


Bittersweet Liar

by sugarhoneyicedtea24



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Lovers To Enemies, McCall reader, Reader-Insert, Season 5 Teen Wolf, Smut, also Liam Dunbar has a crush on Reader, romantic, teen wolf rewritten
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:21:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 32,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25383736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarhoneyicedtea24/pseuds/sugarhoneyicedtea24
Summary: Scott McCall, his cousin, [y/n] McCall, and Stiles Stilinski have always been inseparable since the beginning of time. [y/n] is described by many as being the sunshine in everyone's life. She's a headstrong and courageous girl who fights alongside Scott's Pack, and who also dreams of being an offender profiler in the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit. Upon meeting Theo Raeken, a former classmate from elementary school, she profiles him to  be a narcissistic, power-hungry, opportunist who doesn't account for any cost towards damage caused. He's skilled at using his charm and good looks to manipulate to get people to lower their guard. But most of all, he's a sociopath and is likely to devolve into someone who will be willing to kill for their own benefit.But what happens when the two fall in love, and Theo is left to still carry out his original sinister plan of killing Scott to gain his Alpha power? With [y/n] have the heart to forgive him? Or will her broken-hearted mind curse that she never see him again?**NOTE: this is a complete rewrite of season 5A. All rights go towards Jeff Davis and fellow writers of the show.
Relationships: Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt, Liam Dunbar/Hayden Romero, Liam Dunbar/Reader, Platonic Stiles Stilinksi/Reader, Scott McCall/Kira Yukimura, Stiles Stilinksi/Reader friendship, Stiles Stilinski/Malia Tate, Theo Raeken/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Creatures of the night

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm Addie and this is my first proper fanfic (especially on here too lmao) so please be gentle. I have a somewhat plan for what I'm gonna do with this, but I'm more than happy to take suggestions too!  
> Happy reading!

The last year had been hard. We were all still grieving the loss of Allison, a dearly beloved friend and daughter of a werewolf hunter, Chris Argent, as well as Boyd, Erica and Aiden. Despite him being very much alive, the loss of Isaac was the hardest for me. Isaac was my first love. We had dated for nearly two years before he moved to France with Chris, therefore causing the fallout of the relationship. I knew I had to let him go, but it was hard. 

Sitting cross-legged on Stiles’s Jeep, I sigh as I look down at the map of the greater San Francisco region Stiles had out on the car. Scott watches the sky, eyeing the bright sight of the full moon. Stiles, Scott and I are like the three musketeers. Melissa, being my aunt, took me in after my family was murdered by what the town’s county sheriff dubbed as the ‘masked slaughterer’. At the time of the murder, I was hiding under a secret trap door that was under the rug in the living room. My dad, being an FBI agent, always taught us ways to be safe if something ever happened and made a trap door in case. It wasn’t until later when I was doing volunteer work at the Beacon Hills County Sheriff Department that I found out my dad had been working the case of the ‘masked slaughterer’ and got too close, resulting in the murder. 

“Alright, so I found some cool three bedrooms in the Mission District, but they’re pretty expensive. A couple in Haight and Ashbury. Also expensive.” Stiles points out, his eyes fixated on the map, a red marker pen in his hand as he circles those areas. 

“What about Berkeley? Don’t a lot of students live around there?” Scott questions. 

“I mean I guess we could also try Nob Hill?” I chime in. 

“Yeah but the Jeep would probably burn through a lot of clutches,” Stiles said. Scott’s eyebrows raise, whereas mine furrow as we look at stiles with a slightly concerned look. 

“You’re bringing the Jeep?” Asks Scott. 

“You know the plan, okay? No one gets left behind. That’s the plan. Lydia’s not gonna have a problem getting into Stanford. Kira’s stinking USF. Malia’s, uh, gonna, you know, she’ll figure something out, okay. The plan’s perfect.” Stresses Stiles as he rambles. 

“Or we could just wait until we actually get into college and then figure out where to live. Besides, I don’t even know if I’m gonna stay in California anyway,” I interject, causing both of their heads to turn to look at me. 

“I have a vision, dude. Okay? And it’s a beautiful vision. Don’t ruin the vision.” Stiles jokingly argues. I raise my hands in surrender as I chuckle at him. Stiles sighs and his eyes look up at Scott, following Scott’s gaze which is directed towards the full moon again.

“You’re alright? You’re starting to feel it?” Stiles asks, becoming slightly nervous for his friend. I eye Scott from where I’m sitting, taking in a deep breath and bringing my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on this gently. 

“No. Just thinking,” Scott says calmly. 

“About what?” I tilt my head curiously at my cousin. 

“Senior year.” He turns to face Stiles and I. 

“Senior year, c’mon, that’s, that’s...That’s nothing. That’s gonna be easy.” Stutters Stiles, attempting to reassure his friend. I briefly turn to glance at Liam, who’s tied with a chain to a tree, to make sure he’s doing okay. He has his head tilted back against the tree and his hands balled into a fist, trying to remain calm under the powerful full moon. 

“It’s more like something Deaton told me once. You ever hear of ‘regression of the mean’?” Scott asks us, causing my attention to be drawn back to them. 

“No, I don’t think so,” Stiles answers while I shook my head ‘no’. 

"It was his way of saying that life can’t ever be all bad or all good. You know, eventually, things have to come back to the middle. So, think about the last few months. Things have been good, right? But not amazing.” Scott explains. I found it almost strange that nothing had happened to us for the last few months. Yes, it was tiring running away and fighting those who were trying to kill our pack, but in a sense, it was the new ‘normal’ and it always caused an uneasiness, not only in me but in everyone when nothing was happening. 

“Yeah, but no one’s tried to kill us in six months either,” Stiles adds. 

“Right. We’ve been in the middle for a while.” Scott pauses for a brief moment. “Which means, at some point, the scale will tip one way or the other. Things are gonna get really good again.”

“Or really bad” I interject. Thunder erupts from the sky and a strike of lightning lights up the dark sky. 

“Think it’s been long enough?” Stiles asks referring to Liam. 

“Yes!” We all hear from behind us. Stiles rolls his eyes and turns his head to look at Liam. I turn my head also, giggling as Liam seems to be completely and utterly fed up with being tied to a tree. 

“Hey. Trying to have an adult conversation over here,” Stiles sasses. 

“We should get going or we’ll be late,” you giggle, jumping down from the hood of the car and opening the back doors of the car, knowing that Scott would be riding shotgun. Both of them agree and Scott unties Liam, gaining reassurance from Liam that he’s under control. Finally, they all pack into the car and Stiles drives us down to the Memorial Hospital. 

The ride was filled with the usual bickering between Liam and Stiles until Stiles’s car broke down. Despite distracting Liam so he doesn’t annoy Stiles, I couldn’t help but feel bad for Stiles. I wasn’t a werewolf so I didn’t have the chemosignal powers that Scott and Liam had, but that doesn’t mean I could still feel Stiles hurting. Being skilled in behavioural analysis came with its perks; I’m able to use the analysis of behaviours and personality to profile people, and although I’m not a professional, I know I will be one day. However, that doesn’t mean it came with its downfalls. Being skilled in such things also means that I know when people are lying or gaslighting me. That being said, I know something’s worrying Stiles and I have to know what. 

Liam suddenly notices from the corner of his eye a lighting strike that hit the ground.

“Did you just see that?” He asks, panicked. I nod.

“Guys?” 

“Yeah, give us a second, please,” Stiles dismisses Liam’s panicked call. As if on cue, a second lighting strikes near Scott and Stiles, both of them completely wide-eyed. 

“That was close,” Scott breathes out a breathless sigh. 

“Very close,” Stiles adds. Liam turns on the ignition and thankfully the car starts up again.

“Can we go now?” Liam asks, sticking his head out the window.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Thankfully, we arrive at the hospital in one piece. We managed to pick Malia up on the way. Malia and I follow Stiles into the first floor on the west side of the hospital where Melissa is working. 

“I’ll be back, Scott’s coming down now,” Stiles says before walking toward the elevator. 

“Has anything happened tonight during the storm?” 

“Yeah I’ve just been informed that a jack-knifed tractor-trailer on 115-- caused a major pile-up,” she types away on her computer as she speaks. 

“Oh shit, that’s pretty serious.” My eyebrows raise in surprise before noticing Scott and Stiles coming around the corner. 

“Malia, [y/n], if you were going away and I told you “don’t worry, go have fun” what would you think I was talking about?” Stiles asks. 

“Fun like bowling? Or sex with other guys?” Malia inquires. 

“Okay, yeah…now I’m scared,” Scott sighs. Turning my head, I notice a man being wheeled into the hospital, an IV drip already attached to his wrist and the man wincing in pain. Melissa informs everyone what she told me before and Scott almost bolts out of the hospital to pick up Kira, telling us that he’ll meet us at the school. 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Malia, Stiles and I arrive at the school. The rain pouring harder than it did before making everyone scurry to get inside. Malia and Stiles begin to walk up the stairs that lead to the front entrance of the school, but I stand still for a moment as I look down at my phone in case Scott or Kira texted. The screen remains blank with no text messages. Stiles turns back and asks if I’m okay.

“You guys go, I’ll be with you in a second,” I reassure with a smile. They continue making their way up to the school when I hurt a familiar voice screaming my name. Turning around, I notice Liam in a state of panic. 

“Scott,” he breathes. He didn’t have to finish his sentence because I already know something’s wrong.

“Where is he?”

“Down there.” Liam points. “[y/n], be careful.” I nod and give him a small smile before sprinting down to where Scott is. I finally reach the spot and see Kira extending her belt into her sword in one swift motion, and slashing the taller man. I look down and notice he has talons instead of regular werewolf claws and he uses his strength to fight her off. 

“Come here, you bastard!” I snarl. The man smirks and goes to fight me, blocking every kick and punch I throw at him before I’m eventually thrown against the wall. I whimper in pain and lie helpless on the ground, watching him stalk his way over to Scott. 

“A true alpha? Where’s your power, Scott?” He asks. 

“Who are you?” Scott asks. 

“A devoted fan. Show me the man who took down Deucalion and broke the Argents— I came for that alpha.” Scott’s eyes flash red and he growls, slashing the man’s leg and chest with his claws before he’s swiped away by the man’s arm. The man clutches his hands around Scott’s throat, squeezing tightly and throwing Scott against the wall. 

After Kira regains her strength, I notice her standing up and charging after the man with her sword, slashing him with it before she’s punched in the face. She falls to the ground and I gasp. Groaning as I stand up, I slowly make my way towards Scott, noticing the man’s talons begins to glow a blue colour. Another unknown man jumps down and growls at the glowing-taloned man, causing both Scott and I to look at him in surprise. He skilfully jumps off the way and slashes the taloned-man with his claws and beating the living crap out of him. It was going well until the taloned man throws him to the ground. 

I hang back for a moment, watching as he swipes at Scott again. He picks Scott up by the throat and the talons once again begin to glow as he smirks and stabs Scott with them, growling as he does so. The others run into the area where we are and stop in their tracks when they see what’s happening. 

Scott’s gasping and holding on to every last breath. Tears begin to form in my eyes as I’m witnessing my cousin being murdered in front of my very eyes. I carefully stand behind Kira, ready to fight if he decides to strike at us again. Scott’s eyes flash red and he powerfully stands up, ripping the man’s talons out of his chest, breaking the man’s arm in the process. 

“I don’t know who you are, or what you thought you were going to do, but I’ll give you a choice. You can stay and I’ll break something else. Or you can run.” Scott declares. The man turns his head and takes a glance at us. 

“I’d run,” I suggest. The man scurries away, whimpering in pain from his broken arm. Scott walks towards us, pulling me into a quick hug before turning to see the other unknown man staring. A smirk appears on his face as he inches towards us. 

“You don’t remember me, do you?” He pauses. “I guess I look a little different since the fourth grade.” 

“Theo?” Scott asks. 

Theo nods and smirks. I remembered Theo. His mum would volunteer at the school with my mum and they soon became friends. He certainly looks different from the fourth grade. A good different though. Hotter. Taller, of course. His eyes sparkle sightly when they catch the sight of me. A weird shivery, somatic sensation rolls over my body as we make eye contact. 

“You know him?” Malia questions with confusion. 

“They used to,” Theo pauses. “Trust me, I never thought I’d see you guys again. A couple of months ago, I heard of an Alpha in Beacon Hills. When I found out his name was Scott McCall, I just couldn’t believe it. Not just an Alpha, but a True Alpha.” 

“What do you want?” I ask.

“I came back to Beacon Hills -- back home with my family — because I want to be a part of your pack.”

The rest of the night went well and we got home safe and soundly. Stiles and I are the only ones who are sceptical of Theo. Why the return? Why now? Where’d he move to? Why’d he left anyway? So many questions are swarming my head. I need to figure him out before he does something bad. I didn’t have to be a werewolf to know that something was up with this kid. I reach over and grab my phone, texting Stiles.

_Me: Hey, can you come with me tomorrow to break into the administration office? I need to get Theo’s file. I don’t think he’s who he says he is._

_Stiles: I swear you read my mind sometimes aha. But yeah of course. I’ll keep look out._

_Me: Thanks!_

_Stiles: You know, the FBI are gonna lucky to have us._

A giggle passes my lips at Stiles’s comment. Turning my phone off, I plug it into the charger and snuggle myself further under the blankets, feeling myself already drifting off to sleep. 


	2. Parasomnia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya! Hope y'all have enjoyed the first chapter so far. We're getting right into the psychology stuff with criminal profiling so that should be exciting for you! Also, I'm only a first year psych student so there's a lot I'm still learning (particularly when it comes to mental disorders), so if I get something factually wrong, please don't shy away from telling me. I make sure I do my research before writing anything so I make sure it's as factually correct as possible. 
> 
> Happy reading!

Waking up for school has and always will be the death of me. It’s quite funny to me how I’m more than willing to risk my life for my friends than to get up for school. But either way, it has to be done so I plucker up the courage to drag my body up into a sitting position and swing my legs over the bed, feeling the cold timber floors under my feet. I check my phone for any messages and notice a few from Lydia and Stiles. 

_Lydia: hey girlie! Wanna come over tonight so we can do some AP bio homework? Also how’s your back from last night? Heard you got slammed into the wall_ 😬 _I’ve got some ibuprofen in my locker if you need xx_

_Stiles: I’ll pick you up at 7 so we can sneak into the office without anyone noticing. Dad did a background check on the Raeken’s and managed to pull up a speeding ticket. I know it’s not much but it could be useful?? Idk you’re the behavioural analyst ahaha_

I have more than enough time to get ready and be at school on time for Stiles so I took my time putting on my makeup and choosing an outfit to wear. Once I finish, I walk down the hallway and notice Scott isn’t in his room. 

“Morning, Mel,” I smile, kissing her on the cheek before making myself some breakfast. 

“Morning, love,” she smiles back, looking up from her phone. “I’m working the night shift tonight, will you be okay for dinner?”

“Yeah. Hopefully if nothing comes up, I’m going to Lydia’s to study for AP bio,” I respond, spreading the jam onto my toast. “Also Stiles is picking me up this morning.” As if on time, Stiles lets himself into the house, making his way into the kitchen. 

“Morning,” he smiles at both Melissa and I. He snatches a piece of my toast before grabbing my hand and pulling me out the front door. 

“Dude, chill we’ve got plenty of time before the staff meeting finishes.” I laugh at him as I get into his roughed-up Jeep. 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

It’s incredibly unusual to see the administration office this busy on a Monday morning, so unfortunately Stiles and I couldn’t break into it to grab Theo’s file. 

“You’ve got a spare today, right?” Stiles asks as I walk with himtowards the entrance of the building where he’s meeting Malia. 

“Yeah, in block 2. Do you?” He responds with a mischievous smirk on his face causing me to roll my eyes and smile at him. 

“See you then,” I laugh before heading in the direction of AP bio. I notice Lydia already in the classroom talking to Kira, and I wave at them causing them to wave back. Setting my stuff down next to Lydia’s, I join in on their conversation. 

“So, what’s with that Theo kid?” Kira asks. “Stiles seems pretty adamant on Scott not letting him in the pack.”

“Something’s not sitting right with me,” an exasperated sigh leaves my lips. Taking a look around the classroom, I notice him walk in. A smug plasters on his face when he sees me. He waves before taking his seat behind some kid named Matthew. The bell rang and Lydia and I took our seats. I took my textbook out of my bag and come to a halt when Scott rushes into class, taking a seat next to Kira. Lydia, Kira and I all exchange looks of confusion and slight concern for Scott. What was he doing in AP bio? Through communication via facial expressions, Kira is encouraged to ask what Scott is doing. 

“Scott? Are you in the right class?”

“AP Biology?”

“Do you know what AP stands for?” She hesitates. 

“…Advanced Placement?” He smiles at her. His smile is supposed to reassure her that he’s in the right class, but the rest of us aren’t convinced. It isn’t that Scott isn’t smart. It’s more of a case of keeping up with coursework and his grades all throughout high school haven’t been great.

“Welcome to AP Biology! Let's see who's awake. Can somebody tell me what plasmids are?” The teacher struts into the classroom. Her head high with authority and of knowledgeable power. 

“Circular, self-replicating DNA molecules often used in cloning proteins.” I answer with confidence. 

“Nicely stated, [y/n]. Now, Lydia, can you tell me what vitamin is absorbed in the stomach via partial cell production of a glycoprotein?”

“Uh…” Lydia stutters. 

“B-12.” Mrs. Finch interjects shortly after. 

“Mr. McCall, did you know the answer?”

“Um, no,” Scott mumbles, looking down at his textbook hoping to find the answer. 

“It’s a common test question.” This class is going to be interesting.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Scott and I sit on the steps outside of the school. His face is buried in his bio textbook, whereas mine is glancing in my AP Psychology textbook, making sure I have all the notes needed for class later today. 

“Hey! You’re both coming with me,” Stiles touches Scott and I’s shoulder, scaring me slightly. 

“I’ve got a free period,” Scott hesitates.

“So do I. And so does Theo Raeken. Let's go.” Eagerly, I stand up, shoving the books into my bag and following Stiles into the locker room.

While Theo was telling us about how he got turned into a werewolf, I took a mental note of his behaviour: his choice of words; the way he composed himself; the microexpressions people seem to always overlook. Professional liars know how to control their heartbeat to avoid detection of lying, particularly if a polygram is used. However, one thing no one can control is microexpressions and although they last for 0.5–4.0 seconds, if you manage to catch it, you’ve caught the bait. 

“It wasn’t an accident — he wanted to turn you,” Scott empathises. 

“Right. So, why aren’t you part of his pack, then? Why didn’t he come back for you?” Stiles questions. Stiles was right before. Him and I would make a really good FBI team. I’m good at behavioural analysis and he’s good at interrogation and using evidence against people. 

“Because by the time of my first full moon, he was dead,” Theo keep direct eye contact with Stiles. 

“How did you know that?” Stiles asks. I fold my arms over my chest, completely unconvinced. 

“I met another one of his pack a couple week later. He told me the Alpha that bit me was killed by two of his own Betas. They were twins.” Scott, Stiles and I share a look as we all remember how Ethan and Aiden were apart of Deucalion’s Alpha pack. “Scott, listen to my pulse — I’m telling the truth.”

“Right, or you just know how to steady your heart rate while you’re lying your ass off,” Stiles scoffs, rolling his eyes. 

“Why would I lie?” Theo questions, his eyebrows furrowing as he acts hurt. 

“Because maybe, you’re not who you say you are.” Stiles bit back. 

“[y/n]? You’ve been pretty quiet. Do you think I’m lying too?” Theo’s eyes meet mine. My heart almost skips a beat but I manage to keep it steady. Pushing myself off the bench I sat on, I unfold my arms and slowly walk towards him, making sure to take one slow step at a time. 

“You wanna know what I think?” I challenge. Theo swallows thickly, being genuinely scared of what you might say. Theo knows that both Stiles and my suspicions are going to get him caught. He’s playing a very dangerous game and he knows it. 

“I think you’re narcissistic, power-hungry, and an opportunist who doesn't account for any cost towards damage caused. You’re skilled at using your charm and good looks to manipulate to get people to lower their guard. But most of all, you’re a sociopath and you’re probably more than likely to devolve into someone who will be willing to kill for their own benefit.” I profile him. “I don’t know but from the way I see it, you’re hiding something and whether you like it or not, I’m gonna find out exactly what it is.” Theo looks completely taken aback. But so does Scott and Stiles.

“What’s the matter, Theo? Can’t stand a woman who’s not afraid of you?” I pout, almost mocking his narcissistic demeanour. 

“No, I-“ Theo stutters. Peering down at his hands, my eyes squint when I notice his hands fidgeting; a most obvious sign of nervousness. His feet shuffles as he attempts to recompose himself. Theo begins to sweat. He knows I’ve caught him but luckily for him, the bell rings, saving him from himself. 

“I better not be late for class — you're not the only ones I need to make a good impression on.” He looks directly at me for a moment, then glances at Scott and Stiles before turning on his heels and leaving the locker room with his backlog slung over his shoulder. 

“What?” I raise my hands in surrender as Scott looks unimpressed. Stiles smirks and holds his fist out for me to fist-bump. 

“We have to give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes,” Scott sighs, not wanting to believe that my profile of Theo may be right.  “Not this time, alright?" 

"[y/n] and I are right though! There's something off about him, I can feel it,” Stiles defends me. 

"Lydia's the psychic, not you.” Scott’s stern eyes focus on me. “Especially you, [y/n]. And whether your profile is right or not, the only way we’re gonna truly know is if we give him a chance.” Scott sighs and walks away, exiting the locker room. 

“Okay but what you just did back there. That- that was cool!” Stiles gushes. I laugh as I walk out with him into the corridor. 

“Wanna sneak into the administration office at lunch?” He questions. His eyes are wide with excitement and he’s still feeling some kind of indescribable sensation in his body from my show back in the locker room with Theo. 

“Is that even a question?” I giggle before waving goodbye and heading into the classroom where my AP Psych is.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

“Okay so who’s on look out?” Stiles whispers as we couch down adjacent of the office door. 

“I’m always on look out,” I groan. Pulling out a quarter from my jean pocket I set it on my thumb, ready to flip it. “Heads or tails? Whichever it lands on, the person has to stay back.” 

“Tails.” Stiles challenges with an eyebrow raised.

“Tails it is,” I smirk after flipping the coin. He rolls his eyes and sighs before peering into the office. 

“Okay so in the filing cabinet, the draw that's second from the wall has student’s with the last name of ‘R’, so it should be in there,” Stiles informs me in a hushed whisper so we don’t get caught. 

“Wish me luck,” I smile at him before sneaking into the office, being sure to not make any noise. It only took me a few seconds of find his file. It isn’t big at all which is strange considering every other student has a relatively decent sized file. The only thing in the folder is his transfer paper signed by his dad. Something feels off about it though. I can just feel it. 

Stiles and I make our way to the library where everyone else is. With Theo’s transfer paper in my hand and the speeding ticket in Stiles’s hand, we compare the signatures. 

“It doesn’t look right.” I begin. Before I could say anything else, Stiles and I reach the library and we stride over to the table where Malia, Kira and Scott are sitting at. 

Stiles takes the paper from my hand and slams both sheets down on the table, causing them to look up at us. 

“So, you found something?” Scott questions with narrow eyes. 

“Another signature. This is Theo's dad's signature on a speeding ticket from eight years ago, and this is his dad's signature on a transfer form to Beacon Hills High School from just a few days ago." Stiles says. 

“ How did you get his transfer form?” Kira asks while inspecting the papers. 

“You didn't break into the administration office…” Concern and slight disappointment fills Scott’s voice as he spoke. 

“ No, we did _not_ break into the administration office,” Stiles attempts to confirm. Everyone looks up at us, not buying what Stiles told. “ ...Okay, I might have broken into the administration office. Can we just focus on the signatures, please? They're _different_.” Stiles stresses. 

“They’re sort-of different…” Malia doubts. 

“They're _completely different_! Come on, look. The garlands don't match, the undulations of the sinuous stroke are totally off... And look! Look at this - perfect example of the criminal tremor,” I declare, pointing at the two signatures. 

“So, now Theo is Theo, but his parents aren’t his parents?” Kira questions confused, not seeming to follow Stiles and I’s accusation. 

“Someone’s not someone. And when [y/n] and I figure out who that someone really is, someone’s in big trouble,” Stiles lets out an exasperated sigh. He just really wants people to trust him. Besides, he is the Sheriff’s son after-all.

“But no one’s done anything wrong…” Scott falters, still unconvinced of the fact that Theo may be a potential murderer. 

“Yet. If Theo’s parents are both psychotic killers, we shouldn’t trust him, right?” I assert, hoping that my statement would be enough to convince everyone. Sadly, it does not. 

“My parents are Peter and the Desert Wolf…” Malia states. 

“Okay. It's fine. You know what? We’ll figure it out ourselves. Right? I don't need you, or you, or _you_. I don't need _anyone_.” Stiles huffs, taking back the sheets of paper and storming out of the library. I give them an apologetic smile before shortly following Stiles out to his car. 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Noticing Liam in the passenger seat of Stiles’s Jeep, I open the back door and slide into the middle seat, wincing slightly as Stiles slams his car door shut. 

“What’s a ‘criminal tremor’?” Liam asks, holding up the sheets of paper. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Stiles sighs, snatching the papers out of his hand. 

“It’s a type of tremor typically found in those who are forging signatures,” I briefly explain, giving Liam a small smile as he turns his head towards me. Stiles drives out of the school parking lot and heads towards his house, explaining he needs to pick a few things up from there.

“So does your hand shake when you’re forging someone’s signature?” Liam questions in further confusion. 

“Not exactly. A forger is often aware of the fact that they’re committing a crime by forging, so this then creates a somatic response to the anxiety that is felt. This ‘somatic response’ can include things like nervous twitches, thus causing an instability to write properly.” 

“Shit okay,” Liam breathes out, astonished by 1) my knowledge of it, and 2) the whole concept of ‘criminal tremors’.A few moments later, Stiles pulls up at his house and we all follow him into his house. Stiles goes up to his room to find his flashlight, while Liam follows me like a lost puppy into the kitchen. 

“You hungry?” I turn to Liam, who stands awkwardly with his hands in his jean pockets. He shakes his head and watches as I grab out left overs from Stiles’s dinner last night. 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Nightfall approached quickly. Stiles, Liam and I pile into the car and drove out to the woods where Theo supposedly is. We manage to find him on a bridge picking off petals and throwing them into the river. 

“C’mon try and get his scent,” Stiles whispers to Liam. “Get anything?”

“Soap. It’s nice, it smells good.” Liam comments, causing me to smile sheepishly. 

“Not his soap — his emotional state! Chemosignals, remember?” 

“Oh, yeah!” Liam exclaims quietly. He pauses for a moment, concentrating on Theo’s chemosignals. “He’s sad.”

“Sad?” I furrow my eyebrows. 

“Well, not just sad. It’s more like…grief.” 

“Oh my god!” Stiles curses. “We have to go.” Tugging Liam’s arm and pulling him away from the tree we were just hiding behind. I follow the boys, turning my head to make sure Theo doesn’t notice us. 

“What? Why?” Liam wonders. 

“Go! Right now. Just go!” Stiles mumbles, his pace picking up.

“That’s the bridge where they found his sister, isn’t it?” I ask Stiles. 

“What sister?” Liam inquires, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. 

“The one that got lost and died from exposure. He’s leaving a flower for her,” Stiles hastily explains. 

“That doesn’t sound evil…” Liam cautions. 

“I know.” Stiles mumbles again. Stiles stops in his tracks, causing Liam and I to do the same. Looking up, we notice Theo standing in the tree right in front of us. He jumps down and slowly stands up. 

“What’re you guys doing?” A smug smirk is once again plastered on his stupid - yet cute - face.He inches towards us and Liam lets out a low wolf-growl at Theo, causing Theo to take a step back, arms coming up to a surrender. 

“Why do I get the feeling this kid is tougher than he looks?” Theo asks Stiles and I. His eyes shifting to between us both. 

“Only when we let him off his leash,” Stiles snaps back, putting a protective hand in front of Liam to make sure he doesn’t attack Theo. 

“Stiles, we were in Little League together. Why’re you so suspicious of me?” Theo asks. I couldn’t tell if he looks genuinely hurt or is using it as a false demeanour so we don’t suspect him of any more odd behaviour. 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

I lay in bed next to Lydia thinking about what Theo said earlier in the woods. He said he came back, not just for Scott, but for _us_. He told us that all he wanted was to be accepted into Scott’s pack. I couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Although I don’t trust him, that doesn’t mean I don’t feel for him. Narcissism usually stems from a fragile sense of self, and thus battle with low self esteem issues and inadequacy. according to the DSM-5, that is. Essentially, I’m finding it hard to demonise him but at the same time to not demonise him because mental illness is not something to demonise someone over.

But I guess we’ll find out what Theo is really up too, hopefully sooner rather than later. 


	3. Dreamcatchers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a short chapter today lmao. Also major Theo and [y/n] coming up next chapter so get excited! 😉

Teaching Malia to drive is like teaching a dog to fly. She had some kind of psychological blockage that disallowed her to drive without receiving a flashback from the accident which killed her family. However, my believe system has always been strong and I know she’s going to be able to get through it. 

“If we want to go to the school, we should do a U-turn... Shouldn't we?” Kira croaks, watching as Malia drives straight ahead. 

“No keep going.” Lydia deadpans, keeping her eyes on the road. 

“You sure?” Malia asks unsure. 

“ Yes. We're almost there. ” Lydia pauses for a brief moment. “ Call 911.” 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Arriving at the possible murder scene, we get out of the car and inspect the surrounding.Blood is everywhere. The back of the van is completely blown out and from the side mirrors of the van I can see two people in the front seats, both looking utterly mauled and bloody.Despite having seen many crime scenes up front as well as in photos, this is by far the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Something about this doesn’t ring right though. 

“Wait don’t go any closer,” I warn Malia who is already inching too close to the van. 

“Why?” 

“Because if this is a homicide crime scene, you’ve got your fingerprints and DNA all over it.” The siren lights can be seen from behind us and we turn around to see Stilinksi get out of the car. Cops start to section off the area, putting up barricades that block the entrance to the crime scene. 

“Stiles!” I call out, noticing him and Scott walking towards the scene. 

“Scott, you saw this kid, Donovan. He... He wasn't like you, right?” Stilinksi quizzes. 

“I don't think so... Unless he knows how to hide his scent.” Answers Scott.

“Wait, Donovan? The kid who didn’t pass his psych eval to be a cop?” I question. Stilinksi nods, rubbing his forehead in stress.

“Well, human or otherwise, this kid might have just murdered his lawyer and mortally wounded two officers. We've got an APB out on him, but you think you can find him faster?” Stilinksi asks Scott in a low voice, making sure no other cop hears him. 

“I can try.” Scott has optimistically, yet unsurely. Stilinksi passes Scott a walkie-talkie before he runs off in search for Donovan. Stiles informs me of the incident that happened at the Sheriff Station earlier today. Apparently he had been arrested for breaking and entering and unlawful possession of a firearm due to the loaded and had a fit at the station. Unfortunately this “fit” involved Donovan threatening Stilinksi’s life. Even worse is that he was in the crashed van just ahead of us. 

“What if it’s not Donovan.” I theorise. 

“I'm guessing you've already got a theory?” Stilinksi asks, leaning in slightly in interest. 

“Yeah I think I do.” I’m cut off by the walkie-talkie. 

“Scott is that you?” Stilinksi questions into the walkie-talkie. 

“Yeah, I found Donovan. He's completely freaked out. He keeps saying some name.” Scott says.

“What name?” Stilinksi asks. 

“Theo…” Stiles sighs. 

“ Tracy. He keeps saying “Tracy.”

“Tracy who?” Stilinksi’s eyebrows furrow. 

“Stewart…” Lydia interjects. “Tracy Stewart.” 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

The next morning, we all crowd around Stiles’s Jeep, theorising and discussing the events of last night. How this could’ve been caused by Donovan is still in question. But the bigger question was why Donovan mentioned Tracy. According to Lydia, Tracy had been having nightmares and thus has been having trouble sleeping. Apparently though, after her session with the guidance counsellor, Mrs. Martin, Tracy threw up a troubling amount of black blood and a crow's feather. 

“ Tracy wasn't just having trouble sleeping... It was a real disorder. It was _night terrors_.” Lydia states. 

“Typically night terrors can be caused by prolonged stress, but it can also be triggered by underlying conditions that interfere with sleep, such as mood disorders, like depression and anxiety.” I inform.

“Well, now _she's_ the night terror. Especially since no one can find her.” Stiles mumbles. Looking around at everyone, I giggle as Mason’s eyes are lit up with excitement and amazement. 

“Okay, I know we're all tired and miserable...Except for you.” Scott says as he notices Mason’s state of excitement.

“Oh, I'm sorry — this is all just _mind-blowing_.” Mason breathes. While Mason rambles about how cool everything is, I remember that I forgot my AP Bio textbook at home. 

“I’ve gotta go, text me if anything happens,” I mumble to Lydia, kissing her on the cheek quickly before dashing towards the library to burrow the book out for the lesson. Thankfully, they have a spare copy and on my way to the classroom, Theo runs up behind me.

“[y/n]!” He calls out, catching my attention. I stop in my track and turn to face him. 

“Theo. To what do I owe you wasting my breath,” I deadpan, cocking an eyebrow unenthusiastically.

“Uh, I was wondering if you could help me with bio homework?”

“I’m sure you’re smart enough to do it yourself, considering this _is_ AP Bio.” I retort, turning on my feet to continue my path to the classroom. Theo’s soft hand grips mine suddenly as he gently pulls me back. He flashes a warm, charismatic smile at me. 

“Please? This assignment is killing me and you’re one of the smartest in the class,” his voice is soft as he speaks. I find it quite odd that he’s asking _me_ of all people to help him with homework. I am a bitch to him after all. 

“I’ll think about it,” I sigh, giving in and dropping my guard down slightly. This is exactly what I was worried about. 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Class has been alright so far, other than Scott getting roasted by Mrs. Finch as per usual. Liam disrupted the school by pulling the fire alarm due to something happening to Tracy in Mr. Yukimura’s history class. She has a silvery substance spilling from her mouth and she’s still knocked out cold by the time we reach Deaton in the vet clinic. 

Malia suggested we kill her, but Deaton disagreed. Instead, he surrounded the area with mountain ash in case Tracy woke up. 

“[y/n], Malia, help me turn her over, please.?” Deaton asks. His face displays nothing but concern and slight fear. We turn her on her back and notice her spine moving abnormally. It looks like a fish - better yet a shark - swimming in the ocean. How is that even possible?

“Now, this is interesting…” Comments Deaton in utter astonishment. 

“The driver of the prison van didn't have a stroke or heart attack... Says it was more like his body just locked up.” I overhead Scott say.

“Like he was paralysed,” Stiles reckons. “I think I know what she is.”

“Do you care to enlighten the rest of us? Because this doesn't look too good…” Deaton interrupts the conversation between Scott and Stiles while pointing at Tracy. They walk over hesitantly to the table Tracy is lying on, peering over with cautious eyes as they obverse her. 

“It wasn't a Werewolf.” 

“Kanima.” I interject, taking note of the scales forming on her skin. Suddenly, her back split open, squirting blood over all of us. A tail whips out and it strikes Stiles’s cheek, causing him to fall over from the force of it. Tracy pounces into a couching position, whipping Deaton and I while she does so. Turning on her feet quickly, she whips Malia before slashing Scott with her claws. We’re all completely paralysed due to the Kanima’s venom. She looks around, and for a fraction of a second was scared of what she had just done, before sprinting off, breaking the line of mountain ash.

“Hey, Deaton? How the hell did she get through the mountain ash?” Stiles asks through the grumbles of pain. 

“I don’t know — It’s a barrier no supernatural creature should be able to cross.” Deaton remarks, unsure of why Tracy was able to do that. 

“Scott did it,” I chime in. 

“Once, but it almost killed me,” Scott clarifies. 

“We should’ve killed her!” Malia grunts, completely pissed off. Deaton convinces Scott and Malia to focus on their supernatural healing, in order to use it to break free of the paralysation. After many grunts and complains from them trying, Malia is the first to move her body. 

“Malia? Malia, wait for us,” Stiles says desperately.

“There’s no time,” Malia protests. 

“Look, she’s not a werewolf—“

“But she has a scent. I can find her,” Malia says interrupting Stiles. She begins to sprint in the direction of Tracy’s scent, leaving Deaton, Scott, Stiles and I on the ground. 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

It has only been 20 minutes since Malia left. Scott, wriggles his fingers and begins to move his body. We hear the door to the vet open and footsteps approaching the working station where we are still. Theo steps in, and sees Scott trying to get up. Immediately, Theo assists Scott, resting him on the bench. 

“How’d you find us?” Scott asks him. 

“‘Cause you work here. I head about Tracy. I’ve been looking for you,” Theo stats. He notices me lying on the ground and crouches down beside me.

“Is it okay if I help you up?” Theo asks, placing a hand resting on my back, despite me not being about to feel it. 

“Yeah,” I breathe out, wincing as he turns my body over to scoop me off the floor. Theo gently places my feet on the ground and rests me against the bench next to Scott. 

“We lost her,” Scotts tells Theo. 

"And Malia,” Stiles adds, wincing and groaning as Theo helps him up. 

“I can help,” Theo pleads.

“This is Theo?” Deaton asks, looking for confirmation. 

“Let me help.” Theo urges. “It doesn’t have to mean I’m part of the pack, or like you’ve accepted me, or to prove your profile wrong, or anything. I just means I can help catch this girl.”

“Okay,” Scott agrees. “Do you know where they might be?”

“I know exactly where they are.” Theo declares. 


	4. Condition Terminal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> awh finally a theo and y/n moment!

The rest of the night didn’t go so well. Lydia ended up in hospital due to a severe injury she received from taking a blow to the stomach by Tracy’s tail. Tracy unfortunately was killed by ‘people in masks’ who said that her “condition is terminal”, according to Malia who witnessed the incident in the basement of the Sheriff station. 

In AP bio this morning, we learned about “Chimera’s” which is what Scott thinks Tracy is. Scott also stated that Deaton said the ‘people in mask’ has a process of burying their ‘patients’ which would explain why Liam saw two burial sights in the woods the other night. 

I decide to use my free period to try and get some actual study in. My psychology teacher assigned as an assignment researching into the effects of head traumas on a young person’s brain. That, alongside Mrs. Finch homework assignment is due on Friday, so I need to get this done. 

Walking into the library, I notice Theo sitting at one of the desks in the middle of the room. Maybe Scott is right. Maybe we just need to give him a chance. With extra precautions of course - I know my profile is right. 

“Mind if I sit here?” I ask, placing a hand on the back of the chair that is directly opposite to Theo. He looks up, a smile immediately spreading across his face. 

“I’ve been waiting to see how long it took before you agreed to help me,” he chuckles, watching as I place my bag down on the ground. Sitting down, I lean over my bag and grab out my textbooks and notebooks. 

“So, what is it you exactly need help with?” I ask. My heart flutters as I make eye contact with him. What’re you doing? He’s the bad guy. 

“Cellular Reactions?” He replies, although it came out more like a question. I narrow my eyes at him before opening my textbook to the section and mentally preparing myself for the 30 minutes of alone time I have with him. 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

“You know, I’m not all _that_ bad,” Theo says, suddenly breaking the 15 minutes of silence we had.

“My profile thinks otherwise,” I state with some kind of authority, not bothering to peel my eyes away from my laptop screen. My fingers continue to type a section of my research essay as my eyebrows cock upward for a brief second while he sighs quietly. 

“Have you considered that your profile may be wrong or that you’re too quick to judge others?” Theo asks, his infamous smug smirk is once again plastered on his face. This time, I look up at him. 

“My profile is completely unbiased. It’s simply a collection of behaviours and inferences about the qualities of a person.” 

“Well how about I take you out tonight. I can be a real gentlemen, you know.“ He jokes.

“Can you, now?” I challenge, leaning back in my chair and folding my arms, amused by his comment.

“Mhm. I’ll even buy you flowers and have you home in time.”

“Is that so Melissa doesn’t kill you?”

“Maybe,” Theo laughs sheepishly. 

“Fine. I suppose one dinner won’t hurt.” I give in, rolling my eyes and leaning back in towards my laptop. 

“Great! I’ll pick you up at 7!” Theo exclaims with a cute grin on his face. His excited state makes me giggle in slight amusement. The last time a guy was excited to go out with me was Isaac. But that must’ve been a year and a half ago now. 

“Well I’ll see you then. But for now, I’ve got to get to psych.” I laugh quietly, rising from my seat and grabbing my books before leaving. 

“Bye,” Theo waves, a tinkle in his eye as he catches the sight of mine.   


•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

The rest of the school day had been okay. Stiles tried to visit Lydia at the hospital but her mum kicked him out. I felt bad for him because all he wanted to do was help. Not to mention the fact that he’s one of the very few guys in Lydia’s life who _actually_ cares about her. 

7pm came faster than I expected. Maybe Theo wasn’t all what I though. Maybe he’s just lost and needs someone - better yet a Pack - to look out for him. Besides, we all know that lone wolves don’t make it on their own. Scott went out with Stiles to help Liam with something  
The doorbell rang and Melissa’s head perks up.

“I’ll get it,” I prance to the door. I open the door and low-and-beyond Theo stands with a warm smile on his face as he holds up flowers.

“Ah I see you’re a man of your word,” I tease, feeling my face flushing hot. “Come in.” I step aside to allow him into the house. 

“Told you I was a gentlemen,” he jokes, sliding his hands into his jacket pocket. 

“I’m going to go put these in a vase, I’ll be back,” I hum. From the kitchen, I heard Melissa introduce herself. Theo converses in a respectful manner to her, knowing that she’s one of the most important people in my life. A smile creeps on my face as I listen to their conversation.

“Don’t worry, Melissa, I’ll be sure to have her back by 9pm,” he promises.

“Oh, honey don’t worry about it. As long as you don’t hurt her, you can have her back as late as you want.”

“Hey, you ready to go?” I ask Theo, grabbing my coat from the hall-stand. 

“He’s cute,” Melissa whispers in my ear, winking before waving goodbye as Theo and I step out the front door. 

“Hey, uh, this isn’t to get to Scott is it? Like a whole ‘if I treat his cousin right he’ll see that I’m good enough for The Pack’ sort of thing?” I caution, standing still. Theo chuckles, taking a step toward me. His hand reaches towards my temple, pushing the stand of hair behind my ear. 

“No, no definitely not. I like you y/n. I think you’re tough and…and strong, yet also quite harsh at times, but I know it means well. In fact, it’s what I admire about you.” His hand takes ahold of mine as a sign of reassurance. Giving in to his words, I smile and squeeze his hand slightly. Leading me to his car, he opens to the door for me. 

“That’s very gentlemanly of you,” I joke, climbing into his car. I heard him laugh as he walks around to the other side of the car. 

“Are you in charge of the music, or am I?” He asks, holding up the AUX cord. A sheepish smile plasters on my face, for what must be the millionth time in the last 10 minutes. Tingles rush through my arm, causing goosebumps to appear as I touch his hand while taking the cord from him. Theo must’ve felt it too because from the corner of my eye, I see his lips twitch upward. 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

We walk into the restaurant, instantly feeling the warmth from the heating. The waiter greets us kindly and seats us at a booth table before leaving us for a moment to look a the menu. A few minutes later, she takes our order.

“So.” Theo starts. 

“So,” I giggle, taking a sip of my water. He chuckles and watches me intently. 

“You seem different when you’re not with the rest of them,” Theo points out. 

“Maybe that’s because I’m secretly sent to spy on you so I have to act nice.” Am I flirting? I honestly don’t mean to, but our conversations seem to steer in mindless flirting. I’m supposed to hate him.

“Well tell them I said hello,” he winks. God damn that was hot. What am I thinking? This needs to stop. I even said myself in the god damn profile that he uses his charm and good looks to manipulate people. Almost like a switch, I stop the genuine flirting and put up a facade. I can use this ‘date’ as a chance to further evaluate him and report back to everyone, especially Stiles and Stilinksi. 

“What really brings you back here?” I ask sincerely. My elbow leans on the wooden table as Iuse it to support my head as it rests on my hand. 

“I told you. I came back because I want to join Sc-“

“Yeah I know. But, we’re not the only werewolf packs in the country. So, really, why’d you come back?” I quickly interject. 

“A friend of mine warned me about these people in masks. He said that they were kidnapping people and using them as their little science experiments.” Theo answers. 

“How’d you know they’d be in Beacon Hills though? We barely even know what their motive is yet.” 

“This feels more like an integration, rather than genuine questions, [y/n]. Are you sure you’re not really here to spy on me.” Theo deflects smoothly. 

“Theo, relax. What I said about spying was a joke.” I chuckle in an attempt to lighten up the suddenly stiff mood. "I’m here to prove myself wrong. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m too quick to judge people and I just need to get to know you,” I flash him a forced smile to persuade him. The waiter comes to the table with out food, breaking the awkwardness atmosphere that has just been created. Thankfully, Theo is a good conversationalist and begins talking about funny stories from his old school. 

“Oh my god, are you serious?” I say in between a fit of genuine laugher. 

“Yeah and the principal was just like ‘if you boys don’t leave I’ll kick your ass into next week’”” Theo laughs, putting on a voice to mock the principal. 

“That reminds me of when one of my old friends rode this guy’s motorcycle into the school and blamed it on him. We had this kind of rivalry with these twins and so when they messed with us, we messed with them,” I recall while still laughing. 

“Holy shit that’s so funny. I wish I was there to see his face,” Theo gasps.

“It was priceless. He got suspended for two weeks,” I laugh. 

“Hey, wanna get outta here?” He asks. 

“Where’re you thinking of taking me?”

“There’s an after hours bowling place up the road from here if you wanna go?”

“Let’s do it,” I surprise myself with my own words. I’m actually enjoying his presence. Theo pays, even after the persistent reluctance from me. 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

We only drive for about 5 minutes before Theo drives into the parking lot of the bowling alley. The carpark is pretty empty, which is expected for a Wednesday night. Again, Theo pays for my ticket and for the jug of soda. 

“Please let me pay next time, okay?” 

“So you’re saying there’s a next time?” Theo teases with a smug smirk. I roll my eyes as I take off my shoes to replace them with the mandatory bowling ones. 

“Right, so what’s the deal if someone wins?” I ask, eagerly jumping up from my seat after finishing lacing my bowling shoes.

“If I win, I get a kiss at the end of the date,” he challenges.

“And if I win?” 

“As if you’re going to win,” Theo chuckles. My jaw falls open as I slap him on the arm. 

“Asshole,” I mumble with a grin as he bowls first.

“Please, you’re talking to the King of bowling.” He snickers. 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Much to my surprise, Theo wins the game. He drives me home, and I’m even more surprised that he doesn’t have a hand on my thigh yet. Usually when I’ve been on first dates, they always try and hold my hand or have their hand on my thigh. Maybe he’s just trying to be respectful? 

Pulling up in the drive way, Theo turns the ignition off before stepping out of the car and opening the door for me. 

“Thanks,” I giggle. He walks me up to the front door and waits as I search for the keys in my bag. 

“Hey, uh, tonight was actually quite fun,” I admit. 

“My pleasure,” he nods in a bowing way, causing me to giggle. 

“So that, uh, kiss…” His voice trails off. “I did win after all,” he laughs. Cupping his cheeks with my warm hands, I pull him down towards me. My lips brush against his. He's not sure if I'm hesitating or if I'm trying to tease him. either way, he can feel the warmth of my breath spread across his cold cheeks. To him, the feeling of this intimate moment in this very second is like the waking up on Christmas morning; magical and filled with love. He seems to have forgotten everything about his masterful plan and before he knows it, he presses his lips against mine, making sure to take in every little sensual thing. Theo's arms wrap around my waist, pulling me closer towards him. 

“Goodnight, Theo.” I whisper against his lips. The taste of his lips lingering after I pull away. I smile at him warmly before letting myself in the house. 


	5. A Novel Approach

The date last night felt so wrong, yet so right. Recalling the kiss, his lips felt really nice against mine. My mind is telling me no; a complete juxtaposition of my heart, who is telling me yes. Theo’s starting to become like a drug to me. I need more. But I can’t. I can’t betray Stiles like that. He’s the only other person who hates Theo and I still don’t fully trust Theo. 

Scott also informed me about what happened at the ‘Sinema' club last night.A guy named Lucas died at the hands of the ‘people in masks’. Scott said that he was a scorpion who was about to sting Mason before they stopped him. Tracy’s body was reported missing from the animal clinic, and Lucas’s body was missing from the morgue. This can’t be good. 

Lydia and Malia found a book whilst searching Tracy’s room. I meet the two in the library and Malia pulls the book out from her bag. 

“‘The Dread Doctors’ by T.R McCammon,” I read from the title of the book. 

“I don’t know. There’s something about it,” Lydia says cautiously. Turning the book over, I begin to read the blurb.

“ _In a small New England town, teenagers are taken in the night and buried alive. Days later, they emerge transformed, wreaking havoc and spreading terror, commanded by an ancient order of parascientists know only as the Dread Doctors_ ” I read aloud. “And these are the people you saw back at the Station?” I ask Malia, looking up from the book and noticing the fear in her eyes as I mention them. She nods. 

“I’ve tried reading the book too, but I don’t understand _any_ of it.” Malia adds. 

“We should probably all read it,” Lydia comments. 

“Kira’s working on that,” Malia confirms. 

“How does the book end?” I ask.

“It doesn’t. This is supposed to be Volume One.” Malia replies.

“Let me guess, there is no Volume Two?” Lydia sighs.

“I think we’re _living_ Volume Two.” Maila frets.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

On my way to AP Psychology, Stiles walks me to class, recalling all the events that happened. 

“I know, Scott told me when he got home,” I laugh, interrupting Stiles.

“Oh,” he laughs. “Wait, so where were you last night when all of this was happening?” 

“I went on a date with Theo,” I look down at my feet, preparing myself for a lecture. 

“Oh okay,” he says nonchalantly. 

“Okay? Just okay?” I shake my head in confusion. “No lecture about how I could be falling into his trap? About how I made a big deal of him being not who he says he is then going on a date with him?”

“Nope. Besides, maybe getting close to him isn’t such a bad idea. You can get access to information that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to get. Take his parents as an example. Find you what you can able them.” 

Stiles is right, and I know I’ve said this before: I can use this to my advantage.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

While trying to research into the author of ‘The Dread Doctors’, Theo had pointed out the guy in the acknowledgements page, Dr. Gabriel Valack. Lydia stated that he’s a prisoner at Eichen house, which is where Stiles is driving Scott, Kira, Lydia and I to now. 

Walking down the corridor of the asylum has, by far, been the intriguing thing I’ve ever done. I wasn’t scared. I wanted to understand how these people became the way there are. How their minds work. What their goals and ambitions are. As the building was completely covered in mountain ash, Scott and Kira couldn’t go any further than the corridor that lead to a ward, leaving Stiles, Lydia and I to follow the path down to Valack’s cell. 

“Tell me what you just saw,” Valack says to Stiles. 

“Me?” He questions hesitantly. 

“The creature in the previous cell? The Sluagh? The myth is that they can take on the appearance of the lost souls that have become inextricably bound to it. Happen to have seen any lost souls, Mr. Stilinski?” 

“Everyone down here,” Stiles replies snappily. Valack is an interesting character. He has a bandage wrapped around his head, to which I’ve heard is to conceal his ‘third eye’. He seems to like playing mind games, although I’m not quite sure why. To gain a sense of control and power maybe? 

“Taking an interest in me, [y/n]?” Valak  smirks sinisterly at me .

“There is no T.R McCammon, is there?” My voice stern as I spoke. 

“No.” He simply answers back. “But I’m sure you already knew that since _you’re_ the profiler.” 

“You wrote the book.” Lydia chimes in unamused. 

“That’s right, Lydia. Maybe you’ve already guessed that it’s not just a book.”

“What is it?” She asks. 

“A tool.”

“To what?” Stiles questions, his hands balled into a fist and his eyebrows furrow in frustration. 

“I’m going to need something from you first,” Valak shakes his finger at Lydia. Passing a recording device through the food-insertion hole, he instructed Lydia to scream. 

“What does the book do, Valak?” I snarl, not bothering to waste anymore time giving in to his bullshit.

“You don’t look like someone to mess with,” he chuckles darkly.

“I will ask you one more time,” I enunciate through gritted teeth.. “What does the book do?”

“It triggers the memory centres of the brain, clearing the images of the Dread Doctors into focus. I wrote the book in an effort to trigger someone’s — anyone else’s — memory if they’ve ever seen them. That said, if you’ve seen them, if they’ve done something to you — then the book will help you remember.” He answers truthfully. 

“Now give me what I want.” 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

My eyes began to droop on the way home from Eichen House. All I want to do is get into my warm bed and go straight to sleep. Walking into the front door, with a lethargic Scott trailing behind me, I drudge up the stairs to my room. Instantly, I’m met with Theo who immediately stands up from my bed when he sees me. His presence has somehow given me warmth to the shitty afternoon I’ve just had; almost like sitting next to the fireplace with a hot chocolate on a harsh winter’s day. 

“Usually I wait until the third date before I invite a boy into my room, you naughty boy,” I tease with a flirtatious wink.

“Melissa let me in,” he chuckles and sits back down on the bed. I follow his actions and sit down cross-legged on the bed beside him. 

“I figured,” I laugh with him. “So, what brings you here anyway?”

“I wanted to see you.”

“Well I’m here,” I joke.

“I also wanted to ask if you wanted to go out again? I really enjoyed last night and was hoping you wanted to do it again sometime?”

“You came all the way to my house to tell me that?” I giggle quietly. Theo sheepishly shrugs and nods.

“Yeah, no, you’re right I could’ve waited until Monday I guess,” he mutters, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Or you could’ve called.” I giggle, making an obvious attempt at flirting. 

“I prefer the old fashioned way,” he teases, taking ahold of my hand. I yawn, feeling tired again from tonight’s events.

“I should probably go and let you sleep, hey,” he chuckles. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say somnolently.

“Tomorrow? That eager to see me again, huh?”

“You’re the one who waited in my bedroom until I got home to ask me on another day,” I laugh, getting up and picking out pjs to wear to bed. 

“No, but seriously, Scott wants everyone here so we can read ‘The Dread Doctors’ book.”

“Oh yeah I think I remember him saying something about that.” He recalls. “Well, in that case, I’ll see you tomorrow, sleeping beauty.” Theo helps tuck me into bed, kissing my forehead before leaving my room, closing the door behind him.

He really is something, isn’t he.


	6. Required Reading

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a longer chapter today fam, so buckle in 😋 Also is everyone genuinely enjoying this story?

Saturday morning came a lot quicker than I wanted it to. Checking my phone I notice a text from Malia and Theo.

_Malia: Stiles and I told Stilinski about the Dread Doctors. Stilinski thinks there’s 11 overall dead Chimeras but we’re unable to locate Donovan so he could be still be very much alive._

_Malia: Also Stiles is acting super weird this morning. He hasn’t talked to me about anything, so I was thinking maybe you could talk to him for me?_

_Theo: Morning gorgeous. Excited to see you today_ ☺️

A smile creeps on my face when I read Theo’s text. That boy is really growing on me, as much as I hate to admit it. I text Malia, saying I’ll keep a close eye on Stiles today and if he’s acting up, I’ll have a talk with him tomorrow.

Walking down to the kitchen, I heard the voices of Malia and Stiles talking to Scott, presumably about what Malia texted me about Stilinski.

“Morning guys,” I chirp, prancing on my feet.

“Someone’s unusually happy this morning?” Scott points out while chuckling.

“Aren’t I not happy?” I deflect while smirking at him.

“No, you’re just not a morning person is all,” Stiles jokes, tearing a piece of his toast and chucking it at me.

“Hey!” I laugh, throwing it back to him.

“I think I know why you’re happy,” Malia speculates. “Mr. Theo Raeken wouldn’t have anything to do with it, would he?” She teases as she snickers at me.

“Malia,” I groan, not wanting her to make a big deal out of it.

“Weren’t you the one who said for everyone not to trust him?” Scott asks, intrigued.

“Yeah but-“

“But he’s different. He’s not like other guys,” Scott mocks, pretending to swoon.

“Fuck off,” I laugh, feeling my face heat up as I roll my eyes.

“I’m using it to my advantage. If I can get close enough without him being suspicious, I can find out what’s actually wrong with the guy,” I reason.

“Why can’t we just give people the benefit of the doubt?” Scott groans, putting his bowl in the sink. Sitting back down next to Stiles, he sets his phone on the bench in case anyone texts.

“Is this about Isaac? You all didn’t initially trust him and look how he turned out. He ended up being one of the best in the Pack.” I object.

“Plus that little bromance you both had was cute,” Malia teases. I fist bump her before sassily cross my arms over my chest and cocking an eyebrow up at Scott.

“It wasn’t a ‘bromance’,” Scott defends himself.

“Keep telling yourself that,” Stiles joins in on the teasing, patting Scott’s back.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Everyone arrived here in the late afternoon, all with their copies of the book. Malia and I had set up the living room earlier and put snacks on the coffee table.

“My mum’s book club usually has more wine,” Lydia sarcastically says, sitting herself down on a chair, followed by everyone else. Kira, Scott and I sit on the couch together, Lydia and Theo sit in the arm chairs, and Stiles and Malia sit on the other couch.

“Well, they also probably didn’t read books that cause violent hallucinations,” Stiles says tartly while sitting down.

“Maybe I should have my mother read it. She might remember a girl with a tail laying off the ceiling and attacking everyone,” Lydia thought aloud.

“Yeah, if it works…” Stiles doubts. Narrowing my eyes at Stiles, I take a mental note of how snappy he is, compared to this morning. Malia had mentioned to me when we were setting up that he was abnormally quiet at the station. That definitely didn’t sound like Stiles. He’s always the one who is quick to try and find a solution or to theorise something happening. I’ve always found it quite funny that he’s able to solve a homicide faster and more efficiently than the cops themselves. So for him to be quiet, it’s one of the most obvious signs that he’s not okay and that something’s bothering him.

“It has to,” Lydia says quickly.

“What does that mean?” Scott asks, perplexed.

“I think I saw them during my surgery. When I look at the cover of the book, it’s almost like…”

“A memory trying to surface,” Theo interjects, causing us all to direct our attention to him.

“Well, let’s get reading then.” I announce, followed by everyone’s agreement.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

“Anyone feel anything yet?” Scott asks, peering his eyes around to everyone. Kira rubs her eyes, putting the photocopied book on her lap.

“Tired,” she sighs lethargically.

“Hungry,” Lydia also comments.

“I think he meant the book,” Theo jokes, causing me to giggle at his comment. I look up and meet his eyes, feeling myself blush. I bit my lip and shake my head, peering back down at the book. Stiles and Malia have already gotten up to make themselves coffee, their voices quiet as they talk amongst themselves. Theo looks around and make sure no one’s looking before turning his head slightly in the direction of Malia and Stiles, using his supernatural hearing to listen to their conversation.

“You’re not giving up, are you?” I chuckle as I ask Kira, feeling her head rest on my shoulder.

“Just resting my eyes,” she responds wearily.

Soon enough, everyone started feeling tired and eventually drifting off to sleep. This book feels different than any other book I’ve read. It almost drains all the energy out of you. What scares me the most is what memory is going to resurface for me. I’m a tough girl, I know I can take it. Hell, I survived a triple homicide incident, I’m sure I can survive a suppressed memory.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Monday came around quickly. I tried to talk to Stiles yesterday, but he blew me off saying he had ‘too much homework’. Stiles has a tendency to pretend like nothing’s wrong and to bottle his emotions. He’ll shut people out until it gets too much, which then causes him to snap at everyone. I’ve talked to him before about healthy ways to deal with feelings and events, especially with all we’ve been through. But then again, Stiles is also a person that doesn’t like asking for help.

Scott, Stiles, Kira and I gather in the library, wondering about the suppressed memories that the book is supposed to resurface.

“What if we need some kind of trigger? Wasn’t Malia driving when she remembered the crash?” Scott asks. Earlier last week after Malia finished the book, she had a memory resurface when she was driving with Theo. She remembered her mum, the Desert Wolf, shooting at the car Malia’s adoptive family was driving, causing the car to crash with Malia in it.

“Yeah, but how are we supposed to trigger a memory that we don’t remember?” Stiles sighs frustratedly.

“What if it’s like a context-dependant cue type of thing?” I question, furrowing my eyebrows.

“What the hell is that?” Queries Stiles, as he folds his arms over his chest.

 _“_ It’s an environmental cue whereby the specific situation in which a memory was formed, which act as a retrieval aid to help retrieve the memories formed in that context,” I

“So we have to be in the exact place where the memory was formed?” Scott asks.

“Essentially, yeah.” I confirm. The bells rings and Scott, Kira and I walk to class together. For the most part, class was pretty uneventful. That was until Sydney, a girl in our class, unexpectedly ran out in a panic, dropping off her drop out form on Mrs. Finch’s desk. Lydia stands up and goes to follow Sydney, but is stopped by Mrs. Finch.

“Lydia, you know it's for the best.” Mrs. Finch says. Ignoring her, Lydia runs out of class. For the remaining few minutes of class, I could feel something’s wrong. I’m not sure what it is, but I could feel my stomach turning in knots. Intuition is what psychologists call it. The bell rang and Kira left for the library while I waited for Scott outside the classroom door. He hesitantly places his drop out form on Mrs. Finch’s desk.

“You forgot to sign it,” I heard her say. Opening my phone, I scroll through Instagram, liking and commenting on my friends’ posts.

“Someone…Someone get the nurse!” I heard Mrs. Finch yell. Panic sets in as I peek into the room and see Scott on the floor, clutching his chest as he struggles to breathe. He’s having an asthma attack, which is weird because he hasn’t gotten one in years. Not since he was turned by Peter. Dropping by Scott’s side, I grab his other hand and squeeze it gently, letting him know that I’m here. Was this the gut feeling I had earlier?

“Scott? Scott, you need to breathe,” Mrs. Finch instructs him.

“Does he have an inhaler?” She asks me.

“No, his asthma subsided a few years ago due to an unknown reason,” I told her.

“Someone’s got to have an inhaler, one of you, find someone,” Mrs. Finch yelps at a student in a panic. A few moments later, Liam came running in with an inhaler in his hands.

“Scott…” Liam breathes out, placing the inhaler in Scott’s hand. “Scott, come on.”

“Scott!” Liam flashes his eyes and growls slightly at Scott, causing him to snap out of his shock. Taking the inhaler to his mouth, Scott breathes the puff of air, immediately feeling relieved.

“Thanks,” he croaks out, looking between Liam and I. We sat on the floor for a few moments later, making sure that Scott is okay enough to walk around. My phone buzzes from my back pocket, and I notice Lydia’s name on the screen.

_Lydia: Stiles and I are going to the hospital. I need to figure out what the memory was about. Something just seems off about it. I’ll let you know what happens x_

While informing Scott and Liam, Scott tells me to go with them.

“Scott, no. I’m not leaving until I know you’re okay.” I argue in the nicest way possible.

“Fine, then we’ll go after school” He states. “Besides, I need to figure out what just happened. What do you think?” Mrs. Finch was long gone, so talking about everything was a lot easier.

“I think it was a psychosomatic thing. You told me you remembered being in the hospital with one of the worst asthma attacks, right? So, the memory could be acting as a stressor, thus manifesting as physical symptoms, like the asthma attack for example,” I theorise. Scott sighs and stands up, pushing the inhaler into his back pocket.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

During my free period, I sit outside with Liam and Mason doing homework. Well, not really, considering Mason is asking us both heaps of questions about the supernatural world. I don’t blame him, though, because I remember being like that when Scott got bit. My phone buzzes on the ground, causing me to peer my attention away from Mason.

_Malia: You need to get to Scott’s car. Now._

“Hey guys, I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you later, yeah?” I say, panic set in stone in my voice as I’m sure he’s having another asthma attack.

“Where’re you going?” Mason asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Scott needs me.” Picking up my stuff, I shove it all into my bag before waving goodbye and hurrying over to the parking lot.

“[y/n]!” Liam calls after me.

“Liam you need to stay here. I can’t have your attendance down when we’ve just started the school year.” I know I sound like a mum towards him, but he’s the youngest in the Pack. I feel like it’s my responsibility to make sure he’s alive, and by coming with us, I know something’s gonna happen.

“[y/n], it’s one period, I’ll be fine. Can I please just go?” He pleads.

“Please just stay here. I promise I’ll text you if we need anything,” I stress to him. He sighs and drops his head.

“Fine.”

“Thank you,” I pull him in for a quick hug before catching up to Scott, Malia and Theo.

“What’s happening?” I ask them.

“I’ll tell you on the way there,” Scott says while starting the car.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Scott informs me about a possible new Chimera, who was tampering with the electrical currents at the school, and it was currently at the hospital because Melissa told him that they had major maintenance works which caused a black out a the hospital.

“You guys try to find Stiles and Lydia. I'm gonna find my mom.” Scott told us.

“I’m coming with you,” I state, following him into the elevator. After a few seconds, the door opens and we’re immediately met with a Dread Doctor charging at us. He throws me against the wall before grabbing Scott by the throat, pinning him to the wall opposite me. A surge of electrical currents surge through Scott’s body, shocking him and causing him to gasp for breath.

Reaching into his back pocket, he takes out the inhaler but it slips out of his hand.

“[y/n],” Scott wheezes, his face growing even redder from the loss of circulation to his head. I reach for the inhaler, but the Doctor stomps on my hand before kicking me in the forehead.

“For fucks sake!” I yell in pain, holding my forehead with my other hand. The Doctor steps on the inhaler, causing all the air to leak out of it. Turning its attention towards Scott again, he picks him up by the throat and hold him in the air, causing his wheezing and gasping to worsen. The elevator door dings open, revealing Malia and Melissa. Malia growls at the Doctor, flashing her eyes and flicking her claws. The Doctor tosses Scott, making him land next to me.

“Scott, c’mon, we’ve got to get up,” I whimper. Malia causes a distraction, growling and kicking the Doctor, so Melissa could attend to us.

“Come on, honey, come on let’s go,” she lifts Scott up by his shoulders. I hobble behind them and look back, watching as Malia slashes the Doctor with her claws. Finally, we reach the elevator and Melissa doses Scott with a bronchodilator.

“Malia, come on! Run!” Melissa screams, banging the floor in fear. Malia begins to run with the Doctor heavy on her trail. Leaping into the elevator, the doors close and protect us from the Doctor.

“We never should have read that book.” Pants Scotts.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

“Where’s [y/n]?” Stiles asks as him and Theo walk back into the room where they are in all.

“I don’t know. She was just here a minute ago?” Melissa says perplexed while looking around in search for me.

“Guys we need to leave. Now.” Lydia says, her heartbeat rising as she realises what happened.

“Lydia. Where’s [y/n]?” Scott says sternly.

“At her old house.”

It was like I was in some kind of dream-like daze. Sleepwalking almost. I couldn’t stop my legs from walking and as soon as I realise where I was, it was too late to turn back. Stupidly enough, the new owners hadn’t changed the locks and the spare key is still under the plant that’s near the door.

No one’s home as I walk in. Although it visually looks completely different, everything about the house feels the same. My legs drudge towards my parents’ bedroom, and a gasp leaves my lips as I stumble and hit the wall with my shoulder.

_Standing in the open doorway of my parents’ bedroom, I see mum and dad arguing. Mum is crying on the bed, screaming at dad, who was leaning against the dresser and rubbing his forehead with his hand in frustration._

_“You knew I never wanted children. This life was always yours, and guess what, you win!” She raged before downing the rest of her wine. She points at me and rolls her eyes. “She is the reason why I gave up my dream. Her existence ruined my life. I hate you!” She screams, throwing her wine glass at the doorframe. I whimper and shield myself from the glass._

_“I wish she was never born.” Her words thick with rage as she curses._

“[y/n]! [y/n]!, can you hear me?” Stiles shakes my body gently, snapping me out of the fever dream. Taking in my surroundings, I notice I’m on the floor and leaning against the doorframe. Tears are streaming down my face, and more began to leak out as Stiles cradles me in a tight hug.

“[y/n], oh my god, are you okay?” Theo asks, couching down beside me. Pulling away from Stiles, I nod. Theo helps me up and slings my arm around his shoulder, walking me to Scott’s car. I was quiet on the way home. Malia sat next to me in the car, playing with my hair as some sort of comfort. She knew she wasn’t good with consoling, but what she did know was that I was a touch person; meaning I liked to be held or have my hair played with whenever I was upset. Theo sat on my other side, his hand laced tightly in mine, squeezing from time-to-time as a sign of reassurance and consolation.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we arrive home. I listlessly walk myself up the stairs and notice a second pair of footsteps. When I reach my room, I turn around and saw Theo standing with a worried expression plastered on his face.

“Theo,” I sigh.

“Here, let’s get you in these and tucked into bed, yeah?” He says as he gets out a pair of pjs from my drawers and placing them on the bed for me.

“Theo -“ I whimper, tears rolling down my cheeks again.

“Hey, hey, you’re gonna be okay,” his hand comes up to my face and his thumb wipes away a tear.

“Stop,” I push his hand away. “Go home.”

“[y/n], I’m not leaving until I-”

“Not tonight, Theo, okay? No more games. I can’t - I just really need to be alone, right now okay?” I sigh in lament.

“[y/n]…”

“Please! Just go!” I whimper, closing my eyes and feeling the tears race down to my chin.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Waking up to a pounding headache, I groggily walk into the bathroom and grab myself some ibuprofen. I sigh as I look at myself in the mirror, noticing that I have no serious injuries left on me. Aside from the bruise forming on my hand and forehead, of course. Melissa said I was luckily to not have my hand broken, which seems nearly impossible considering the Doctor literally stepped on it. I’m not complaining though.

Entering the kitchen, I hear light snores coming from the couch. While cautiously tiptoeing to the couch with a fork placed under my sleeve in case, I peer over it.

“Theo?” His eyes snap open as he’s sudden woken up and a smile cracks on his face when he notices me.

“You’re awake. How’re you feeling?” He asks, sitting up and patting the spot next to him.

“You stayed?” I perplex, ignoring his question and placing the fork on the coffee table before sitting next to him.

“I couldn’t just leave you. You were in such a distressed state, it felt wrong to leave.”

“Oh…” I pause. “Well thanks, I appreciate it, but you really didn’t have to go out of your way to stay. I just needed some time to process.”

“Is it okay to ask when the memory was?”

While telling him about the memory, his eyes stay completely focused on me. His body shifts so he’s facing me, a sign indicative of providing someone with full undivided attention.

“I’m so sorry,” he consoles, wrapping his arm around my shoulder to pull me into a tight hug.

“Thing was, it just didn’t _sound_ like her. I know my mum. She would never say anything like that,” I sniffle.

“What if the memories are altered?”

“I don’t think so because Valak said they’re suppressed memories. I guess it could be a ‘false memory’, but it felt too real for it to be fake.”

“Well, how about I take you out to breakfast to take your mind off things?” He stands up, extending a hand out for me to take. I hesitate.

“Why’re you doing this?”

“What do you mean?” His eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“I profiled you to be someone who manipulates to get what you want. You being nice and helping me just seems a little off to me.” I sigh.

“Believe it or not,” Theo crouches down in front of me. He places a hand on my cheek, caressing it with his thumb. “I care about you, [y/n]. I _promise_ you, this isn’t to get to Scott. What happened last night scared me. To me, you’re the glue to this whole Pack. I know Scott has his whole ‘True Alpha’ thing going on, but trust me, [y/n], you don’t have to be a werewolf to be the strongest in the Pack. You look out for everyone, but unfortunately from the way I see it, no one really looks out for you.”

“That’s not true,” I whisper.

“Are you sure? They barely even noticed that you were gone. It wasn’t until I pointed it out that they cared enough to come and get you.” I look down at my hands, too distracted to notice his eyebrow cocking up in cunningness for a split second.

His words hurt, but as much as I hate to admit it: they were the truth. No one really looked out for me. I was always the one to patch up the scars and wounds, to console them and act as a somewhat therapist to all of them. But really looking back, none of them did that for me. Not even Scott or Stiles.

“Anyway, let’s go get breakfast. I’m sure you must be hungry,” he chirps, standing up and holding his hand out again.

I take his hand, lacing his fingers with mine and follow him out to his car.


	7. Strange Frequencies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh i know it's super boring and there's not much going on between [y/n] and Theo, but trust me, next few chapters there will be!

It had been unusually quiet for a few days. No new unusual deaths. Nothing. This could only mean one thing: it’s about to get a whole lot worse. There had been one new Chimera; Hayden. She’s a girl in Liam’s grade who had a kidney transplant a few years ago, causing her to have two sets of DNA, creating the perfect recipe for the Dread Doctors to scientifically experiment with. 

Theo and I had gotten a lot closer too. He told me more about his sister, Tara, and his family, that they were a loving family and are still grieving the loss of Tara. Her death took a toll on the Raeken’s. According to Theo, she'd fallen into a creek and broken her leg. Unfortunately, it was one of the coldest night of the year, meaning her cause of death was hypothermia. He felt guilty for not being there on time. He felt responsible for her death, saying how he “should’ve known”. But if my knowledge in psychology, along with my own intuition, is right, something felt obviously off about his story. Had I felt myself genuinely liking this guy? Yeah, but that’s beside the point. I’m still figuring him out, and I know he’s still hiding something from me. I just need more time to ascertain what it is. 

The Chimera from a few days ago at the hospital, Josh, had died. Stiles told me earlier that Theo had killed him in an act of self defence as Josh was attacking both him and Stiles. His body, however, is being kept at the animal clinic for safe-keeping. We couldn’t risk bringing him to the hospital as he hadn’t transition back to human, let alone the fact that someone is stealing the bodies. 

Stiles and I are are driving to the animal clinic. He believes that while everyone else is at the school protecting Hayden, we should protect Josh. 

“What’s going on?” Theo asks as he notices us enter the clinic from the back entrance. 

“Whoever’s stealing the bodies probably isn’t going to do it while we’re standing guard over one of them,” Stiles mumbles.

“You got a better idea?” Theo asks again. Stiles sighs as he reaching into his back pocket and grabbing his phone out. Setting it on video, he props his phone on top of the x-ray board. Theo and I look at each other in concern, before following Stiles back out to his car. I get in the backseat, leaving Theo to jump in the front passenger seat next to Stiles. 

“What happens now?” Theo questions, watching as Stiles places his Apple Watch on the car mirror to watch his phone’s camera. 

“We wait.” Stiles replies sharply. Tuning out of their conversation, I put my earphones in and shuffle my Spotify playlist. While scrolling through Instagram, I take quick glances between the two boys in front of me to make sure they’re not at each other’s throats. Stiles hadn’t really spent any proper alone time with Theo yet, and that worried me.

It has only been five minutes and my boredom is exceeding. I put my phone in my back pocket and lean over between the front two seats. 

“That’s a pretty judgemental myth,” remarks Theo. His eyes are bored into Stiles, almost like he’s watching his every move. Observing. Reading. Waiting.

“Well, I didn’t make it up,” Stiles shot back while glaring at Theo. 

“What myth?” I chime in, causing them both to look at me. 

“Wendigo.” Stiles and Theo say at the same time. 

“Oh the one about the cannibals?”

“What If it was the only way to survive? I mean, you ever hear of the Donner Party? I’m pretty sure they didn’t turn into Wendigos…” Theo comments. 

“They didn’t live in Beacon Hills though,” I giggle. 

“Good point.” He chuckles back. “So, what’s the punishment for killing a Chimera?” Theo smirks . 

“You spend five hours in the car with Theo Raeken,” Stiles sasses back .

“Oh, come on, it’s not that bad. Trust me, I’ve done it before,” I wink at Theo, causing a blush to appear on his face as he sheepishly shakes his head. Without the awareness of Stiles, Theo sneaks a hand between the seats and takes ahold of my hand, squeezing it gently. Turning his head to face me, he smirks before glancing at Stiles to see if he has noticed. Luckily he hasn’t, but then again, he’d think it’s all apart of my game. Theo scrunches his nose and inhales the air. Both Stiles and I stare at him in curiosity. 

“What?” Stiles cautions, knowing that something bad is about to happen. 

“A scent…Like smoke. Like something burning.” Before either of us could say another word, Theo is knocked out by a burning vessel. I can’t see who is it - better yet what it is - and it’s too quick for Stiles or I to fight it. We watch the burning creature stride behind the car, it’s strong arms lifting the car and flipping it over. That’s when everything went black. 

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• ☾ ☼ ☽ •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

My ears ring as I slowly gain infinitesimal consciousness. The sound of a fire extinguisher can be faintly heard from behind me and the smell of smoke fill my lungs; suffocating my airways and making it hard to breathe. I’m surprised that I’m even alive at this point. Surely no normal person would be able to survive that. While slipping in and out of consciousness, I feel a strong pair arms hook under my own and drag me out of the car, cursing as I’m placed on the ground. Stiles begins coughing harshly as he wakes up. The familiar touch of Theo returns to me as I feel his lips against my grazed and smokey skin. 

“[y/n], please wake up,” Theo whimpers, both hands are now clasped onto my hand tightly. I suppose in this moment, all negative feelings I had towards Theo vanished. He chose to save my life. He could’ve just left me - and Stiles - to die. Thankfully, Stiles gains enough strength to sit himself up, and he immediately scurries over to me. I can smell his cologne near my nose as he checks for a breath. 

“She has a pulse, but it’s weak,” Theo frets as he glances at Stiles. 

“Yeah, well, it’s better than nothing,” Stiles chokes out, still coughing from the smoke inhalation. 

“We need to get out of here,” worries Theo.

“Wait, what about-“

“The body… the body’s gone,” Theo interjects, his voice laced with fear and concern. Coughing as I finally manage to wake up, I open my eyes and see Theo sigh in relieve. 

“[y/n]!” He exclaims, bringing my hand up to his lips and kissing it softly. 

“You’re awake,” Stiles smiles warmly at me. 

“I’ll fix the car, hold on,” Theo says before standing up and tipping the car back over so its wheels are on the ground again. Stiles’s hand comes under my back and helps me sit up. 

“Are you okay?” He quavers.

“Yeah,” I breathe while nodding. “Are you?” He nods in reply and wraps his arms around me in a hug. Hurriedly, Theo couches back down, taking ahold of my hand once again. Blackness fills his veins as he takes my pain. He doesn’t seem to grunt or even feel the pain being carried over to him. I wonder if he even feels pain. Standing up, Stiles’s legs tremble and he holds the side of the car to stabilise himself. He notices his keys on the drivers seat and reaches in to retrieve them. Theo’s strong arms scoop me up before placing me back down on my feet, quickly catching me in his arms again as I stumble. While Stiles starts the car, Theo helps me into the car, sitting in the backseat beside me. Resting my head on Theo’s shoulder, I feel his fingers play with mine. His other hand rests on my thigh, using his thumb to caress and gently soothe me.

“We need to get you to the hospital,” Theo says looking down at me, his hand that was once on my thigh, moves to my chin to tilt my head to slightly. “You too, Stiles.”

“I’m fine,” Theo raises his eyebrows at me in a _‘no you’re not’_ way. “Really, I’m okay. Besides, we need to save the body.”

“The body’s been taken,” Stiles cuts in. 

“Then we need to tell Scott.” I declare. Before anything else could be said, Stiles’s dispatcher radio flicks on. 

_“Suspect in 1-8-7 is in custody and en route to station. Suspect's name is Yukimura, Kira.”_

“What’s a 1-8-7?” Wonders Theo, his eyebrows furrowing in inquisition.

“Homicide.” Stiles and I answer at the same time.


	8. Ouroboros

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao i guess you can tell i've been watching Scrubs if you get the 'Bambi' reference ahah

Stiles pulls up in the driveway of the McCall house. A house that Theo is getting pretty used to by now. It seems to be a place of meeting; all of us coming together to plan our next move against the Dread Doctors. Lydia’s car is also parked out front as her, Mason and Corey gathered to read the book.

“Stay here,” I instruct the two boys who are following close behind me.

“[y/n]…” Theo begins.

“I’ll be fine, just stay here in case someone comes back,” I giggle slightly, taking Theo’s hand and giving it a gentle squeeze while smiling reassuringly at him. He sighs and nods, his eyes twinkling in the dim light of the lamp in the living room. Slowly making my way upstairs, I sigh as I feel a wave of nausea. I must’ve hit my head pretty hard before when the car flipped. Pushing through it, I peep into Scott’s room to see if he was there. Instead, I’m met with Mason, Corey and Lydia.

“Hey, everything okay?” Mason’s eyebrows furrow, expressing concern as he stands up from the bed.

“Yeah I-I’m fine. Is Scott back?”

“No, I think he’s with Kira,” Lydia replies.

“Still reading?” I ask Corey. He looks up from the book and nods.

“Yeah, sorry I only started this like a half hour ago,” he responds with a shy chuckle.

“I’ll leave you guys to it then,” I smile warmly at the two and close the bedroom door before making my way into the bathroom down the hall. Upon entering the bathroom, I lift my shirt up and examine my body for any wounds. Luckily, the only injuries I have are scratches on my stomach and the right side of my hip. Nothing too deep and nothing too severe. I open the mirror cabinet and take out a Zofran; a type of medicine which stops the feeling of nausea and vomiting. Thank god I’m living with a nurse.

A soft knock is placed on the bathroom door followed by Theo’s tender voice.

“[y/n]… can I come in?”

“Yeah,” I breathe out, my hands gripping the sides of the sink as I try and control my breathing. The door squeaks open and Theo’s lamenting sigh can be heard from behind me. His hands trails up to my back and massage my shoulders, a small smile twitching on his face when he feel me relax into his touch. Theo guides me to the bathtub and motions for me to sit on the edge. The back of his hand presses firmly against my forehead as he feels for my temperature.

I watch shyly as he takes the small towel from the hook next to the sink, turning on the cold water before damping the towel just enough so it wasn’t soaking. Theo couches down in front of me and presses the cool towel against my forehead.

“Does that feel a bit better?” He purrs as his puppy-dog eyes bore into mine. I can feel my heart racing and I know he can hear it. He’s seeming to have that effect on me recently. I nod and curl my fingers around his wrist, caressing my thumb against his pale and warm skin. I lift his hand away and lean forward, pressing my lips against his. Theo smiles into the kiss, slowly dropping the towel to the ground so he can bring his hands up to my waist. While wrapping my arms around his neck, I pull him in closer. His chest can be felt against mine and his lower abdomen presses firmly against my inner thighs. I hate to have to admit this, but I want more. I need more. But then again, maybe it’s the possible concussion talking. Before I could do anything else, I feel my phone buzz in my back pocket.

“Shit,” I whisper, pulling away from him. “I forgot they’re still here,” I giggle as I read the text Malia sent me saying she’s here. Theo chuckles and holds my hand as he helps me to my feet.

Walking down into the living room with Theo hot on my heels, Malia and Stiles turn their attention towards us.

“Oh thank god you’re okay,” Malia breathes as she rushes towards me, pulling me into a tight hug. “Stiles told me about the animal clinic.”

“Yeah I’m okay,” I coo into her ear. “How’s everyone else?”

Malia informs me about the incident at the school. Parrish theorised that the only way we can communicate with the Dread Doctors is by using the same frequencies as them. According to Mason, the Doctors use electromagnetic forces which provide them with the ability to phase through solid objects by using an enhanced frequency. So, Scott apparently made a plan to use Hayden as bait whilst also trying to protect her simultaneously, considering the Dread Doctors are winning and it’s hard to fight a battle when you don’t know anything about the other opponent. Malia recounts how she heard Parrish’s SUV pull away and when she went down the hall to check on him, she was trapped by steel-jaw traps that came up from the floor’s surface all while the Dread Doctors pass her. It’s apparent through Malia’s brief encounter with the Doctors that they have the ability to not only alter your memory, but to cause hallucinations. If I had to profile them, I would say that the hallucinations are their way of possessing control. By weaken and/or incapacitating people, they’re able to get what they want. Malia continues by saying when she got back to the locker room with Lydia, Liam and Hayden are gone, meaning only one thing: they were taken.

Something also happened with Kira. According to Malia, Kira didn’t seem like herself. If anything, the fox seemed to be taking over. At the school, she began attacking Scott while saying “I am the Messenger of Death”. I suppose that and the fact that she’s wanted for an apparent murder, she doesn’t really seem to be okay right now.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

“Hey, is Kira okay?” Stiles asks as Scott storms through the door. Ignoring us all, Scott stomps passed us in a somewhat rage.

“Scott?” Theo cautiously calls out to him. We follow him up the stairs and into his room.

“Sorry, I’m only on chapter two. I’m kind of a slow reader,” Corey blushes.

“We don’t have time for that, anyway,” Scott grumbles as he walks up to Corey, digging his claws into the back of Corey’s neck.

“No, Scott — Don’t!” Lydia exclaims. But it was too late. Corey gasps as Scott digs through his memories.

“Don’t get too close,” Lydia says quickly as she notices us in the doorway.

“What is he doing?” Falters Theo as he watches Scott closely.

“Tapping into Corey’s memories. It’s usually something only Alphas do,” I answer from behind him.

“Is it as dangerous as it looks?” Theo asks, turning his head down to look at me. His hand sneaks behind him and intertwines his fingers with mine.

“Probably more,” Stiles mutters.

“Does anyone know if it’s working?” Mason asks, his eyes filled with fear and shock. We all stand and watch for about five minutes. Waiting to see if anything is happening, but most of all, making sure nothing serious is happening to Corey. Besides, Corey’s our best asset, considering he’s the only one who has had a proper encounter with the Doctors. Suddenly, Scott gasps and immediately backs away from Corey as he is brought back to reality. He stumbles backwards and Lydia and Stiles are quick to catch him.

“Is he okay?” Scott pants.

“What the hell did you do to me?” Corey exclaims in displeasure.

“You’ll be alright,” Scott dismisses.

“There’s blood,” Corey panics as he touches the back of his neck.

“You’ll heal,” Scott replies quickly.

“Scott—“ I start.

“He’ll be fine!” Scott yells. “Listen, I think it worked. I saw something. There were tunnels, pipes along the walls…There were these huge blue pipes at the entrance, two on the both sides.” Scott starts drawing everything he saw on a small notebook. Stiles stood closely next to him and examines the drawing.

“Wait a second,” Stiles mutters as he ponders for a second. “I know this. I’ve seen this before. That’s one of the tunnels I used to skateboard in. Remember?”

“The one your dad caught you in?” I chime in, tilting my head in curiosity. Stiles nods in reply.

“It’s the water treatment plant.” Lydia says in realisation.

“That’s where they are. That’s where we’ll find Liam and Hayden.” Scott declares. He turns on his feet and pushes past us, heading towards the stairs.

“Scott-“ Stiles calls out after him. “Scott, slow down. Just think for a second, okay? Mason shouldn’t be going.”

“Liam’s my best friend — I’m going,” Mason sternly replies back.

“Oh, did you suddenly get super-wolf powers? I wasn’t aware of that development,” Stiles sasses.

“Well, if you’re not going, I could use the help,” Scott comments.

“No, I’m coming as soon as I talk to my dad. They’re moving the body, and he wants to make sure that this time, no one steals it,” Stiles states. 

“How’s he gonna do that?” Doubts Malia.

“I don’t know…But whoever took the last one was strong enough to flip my Jeep,” Stiles mumbles as he looks down at his hands.

“We can bring Theo,” Malia suggests.

“Maybe I should stay here… You know, in case the Doctors decide to make a house call for Corey,” Theo objects.

“Scott, Stiles is right. We need to slow down and think-“

“I am thinking — about how Liam and Hayden could already be dead,” Scott cuts me off.

“You could’ve hurt him, Scott. Really hurt him,” I argue, motioning to Corey, who gives me a small smile.

“I have to find Liam,” Scott sighs in exasperation. He backs away and starts walking towards the front door, with Malia and Mason following shortly behind.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Corey’s a sweet little thing. My behavioural skills tell me that he’s a very light-hearted person who cares a lot about the people around him. He’s persistent in helping those who need him, which is why it took Lydia, Theo and I nearly ten minutes to convince him to stay here. I feel bad for him though. I know it’s killing him to not help his new-found friends, but he also knows he has to stay put in order to keep himself alive.

“What else did you see?” Theo stresses as he asks Corey.

“There was a hospital, and…” Corey pauses for a moment as he tries to recall the memory. “They took me out of my room.”

“And then where?” I ask gently.

“The tunnels…Like I already told you. That’s it.”

“Yeah, nothing after that,” Theo speculates, his tone becoming more harsh.

“Theo,” I grab his hand to stop him from inching closer towards Corey.

“No,” Corey gulps in response to Theo.

“Well, there has to be more. Think Corey, for one minute, just think,” snarls Theo. Corey sighs in defeat, his eyes peering down at his shuffling feet before looking back up at us.

“There’s a basement,” he admits.

“Where? Like, in a building?” Lydia asks.

“A house. It was old, covered in dust, and… There was a broken stone wall with a large hole in it, like a bomb went off.”

“Why does that sound so familiar?” I wonder out loud.

“Lydia, the Werewolf with the talons, the one who attacked you guys? Didn’t Parrish say that he smashed through the wall of the basement? Wasn’t it something like that?” Queries Theo.

“No…It was exactly like that,” Lydia frets.

“Theo, you’re coming with me. Lydia, you stay here with Corey,” I instruct, walking back into the kitchen to grab my car keys.

“Why can’t I come?” Corey complains.

“If the Doctors come for you and kill you, I’ll never forgive myself,” my voice soft and meek as I spoke. “Besides, you’ve got Lydia to keep you safe, okay? Call me if you need anything.” I quickly give Corey a hug, and sigh softly as I feel his hands curl tightly in my jacket. He seems like he really needed that hug, which only makes me feel more sad for him.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

The ride to the abandoned house was mostly silent. Theo’s right hand rests on my thigh while he drives and I can feel him glancing at me every so often.

“What?” I giggle as he gazes over at me while stopped at a red light.

“Nothing,” he shakes his head and sheepishly smiles.

“No tell me,” I purr as I bring his hand up to my lips and planting a gentle kiss.

“You’re just so good with them. With the new ones, you know? You’re so gentle because you know they’re afraid.”

“Exactly. They’re afraid. There’s no use yelling at them when they’re scared. I can imagine how scary it might be for some people when they first get turned. I know Bambi was.” I reply. Theo turns the headlights off as he parks on the side of the road in front of the house.

“Who’s Bambi?” Theo chuckles as he takes his seatbelt off.

“It’s a nickname I gave Liam when he first got turned,” I mutter softly, making sure my voice isn’t too loud for any attackers to hear.

“Why have I never heard you call him that before?”

“Didn’t want to make you jealous,” I tease, following Theo inside the house. We wonder around for a few minutes in search for them, and just as I was about to call it quits, Theo spots them while coming around a corner.

“Liam? Hayden?” He calls out to them.

“Theo, wait! Don’t!” Liam exclaims as Theo touches the barbed wired fence around them. Electricity surges through Theo’s body as he is shocked by the fence.

“Theo!” I scream and rush to his side. I check for a pulse, which luckily is still there. There’s no response, meaning he’s knocked out cold. Melissa had previously taught me a few first aid tips, so I start performing a sternal rub.

“What’re you doing?” Hayden asks frantically.

“Hold on, it’ll work,” I respond calmly. One of the most important things Melissa taught me was to always keep calm. This will keep the patient and others around you calm as well. After a few seconds, Theo gasps as he wakes up.

“Theo? Theo? You alright?” Liam calls from behind us.

“Yeah…Yeah I’m fine,” he coughs as I help him sit up. Slowly he stands up and examines the fence for a moment.

“You think you can get help?” Liam asks. His face is covered in fear, and I don’t blame him.

“We are the help,” Theo mutters, stepping forward slowly towards the fence. Liam backs away into the corner and shelters Hayden to protect her. Theo takes a deep breath and reaches for the gate.

“Theo, be careful,” I falter, scared that the electricity will be too much for his body to handle. Heroically, he pushes the gate open, growling as the electric current surge through his body again.

“Let’s get you guys out of here,” Theo heaves. Liam and Hayden quickly dash out from there spot and follow Theo and I to the car. Intertwining Theo’s hand in mine, he looks down at me sweetly and smiles.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” I mumble to him as I get in the car. “You guys too,” I smile over at Liam and Hayden. Theo starts the car and begins driving back to the McCall house.

“It still hurts?” Liam asks Hayden as she winces quietly. She lifts her shirt up and notices a big gash on her side.

“Everywhere. I’m not healing, not like it did before. That means I’m a failure, doesn’t it?” I can practically hear the terror in her voice. Looking through the mirror, my lips crack into a smile when I notice Liam leaning over and kissing Hayden in an effort to calm her.

“It’s gone…The pain’s gone. How’d you do that?” She questions in disbelief.

“I don’t know,” he breathes out. Hayden pulls him in for another kiss and that’s when I felt Theo’s hand being placed on my thigh. Bringing his hand up to my lips, I kiss it like I did before.

“You were really brave before,” I coo as I lean my head against the car seat and gaze lovingly at him.

“All in an effort to save my friends,” he chuckles quietly. “You know, you really scared me at the animal clinic.”

“How?”

“I thought you were going to die,”

“Well, I’m still here. I’m not going anywhere,” I purr as I lace our fingers together.

“Promise me you’ll stay,” he whispers as his eyes met mine.

“I promise.”


	9. Lies of omission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠️Smut warning⚠️

“I don’t want you to leave,” I whine as Theo stands up from the bed. With me still flat on my stomach, I reach out to grab his hand and pull him back towards me.

“I have to, princess,” he chuckles, leaning down and planting a soft, lingering kiss on my lips. Theo has been staying over for the past couple of days. We both agreed to take things slow while still figuring things out. The beginning of relationships for me have always been difficult as I always debate about putting my heart on the line. But especially in these times, where we have these Dread Doctors coming in left, right and centre, trying to possibly kill us? It’s hard to balance that and figure out a new relationship at the same time.

“I’ll only be gone for a couple of hours, I promise. I’m only going back to see my parents,” he mumbles agains my lips, pecking them in between every few words.

“Well, can I come? The last time I saw your parents was in fourth grade,” I joke, pulling my body up into a sitting position.

“Not today, love.” He picks up the last of his things and shove them into his backpack. “But maybe another time,” he quickly adds as he notices my frown.

“Ugh fine,” I playfully roll my eyes. “Well, at least tell them I said hello, yeah?”

“Of course,” he smiles. “I’ll see if they can have you ‘round for dinner sometime.”

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Stiles had called about 20 minutes after Theo left, asking for me to come over. I knock on the front door and am met with Noah, who grins when he notices me.

“[y/n]! How’re you doing this morning?” He greets, wrapping his arms around me in a tight embrace.

“Yeah good! How’re you?”

“I’m doing alright. Stiles is in his room,” he chuckles softly, stepping aside to allow me into the house.

“Sup little bitch,” I chorus as I swing his bedroom door open.

“Life’s a bitch and you’re here dude?” He joins in, laughing as he pulls me into a hug. Behind him, I notice his crime bored. Stiles winces as he pulls away and I narrow my eyes at him, peering my eyes over his right shoulder.

“What?” His sudden change in mood causes me to become more suspicious.

“What happened to your shoulder?”

“Nothing.”

“Stiles,” I warn. His nervous demeanour drops as he hangs his head low, a sigh of fear escaping his lips. Cautiously, I peel his hoodie over his shoulder, examining what looks to be a vicious bite mark.

“Was this Josh?”

“Donovan.”

“Did he attack you?” I gasp. I had completely forgotten about him because of everything else that had happened. The last time I remembered seeing him was back at the prison van crush a while ago. Other than that, I though he had gone off the grid and went into hiding.

“I didn’t mean to hurt him,” he whimpers as he frets. His hand coming up quickly to adjust his hoodie in case his dad walked in. I sit him down on his bed and hold his hand his mine, while wrapping my other arm around his broad shoulders.

“It’s okay,” I hush. “Tell me what happened.”

“It all happened so quickly, I-“ he stutters, fidgeting with my fingers. Stiles always had a nervous habit of fidgeting. Supposedly, anxious fidgeting occurs because the body is releasing stress hormones such as adrenaline, thus the fidgeting is a way of preparing the muscles for sudden exertion.

“Stiles, it’s okay. Slow down, take a deep breath,” I soothe, rubbing his back. “Talk me through it. Let’s start from the beginning, yeah? Where were you before you saw him?” My comforting and sympathetic voice, mixed with the motions on his back, seemed to comfort him. He takes a deep breath; inhaling through his nose and exhaling through his mouth.

“I was at the library. I had fallen asleep while reading the Bestiary and while starting the Jeep, it started smoking. He just…he attacked me out of nowhere. His hand…His hand had teeth like a lamprey. So, to get him off of me, I hit him with a wrench and ran back into the library to hide, but he found me and started attacking me. So I…” Stiles quavers. He pauses for a moment, taking another deep breath before continuing. “I climbed up the scaffolding and pulled a pin out, causing the bottom of it to fall apart and when I looked back… he was impaled by it.” He shivers, his fingers squeezing tightly on mine as he lets out a shake breath.

“Hey, it’s okay. You didn’t mean to do it, I know you. It was self-defence,” I console, continuing to trace circles on his back with my hand.

“I straight up murdered him, [y/n]!” he whisper-yells, his eyes wide as he looks at me. Aside from when he was first possessed my the nogitsune, I realised that I had never seen him so scared in my life. Stiles had amazing resilience skills, which makes me admire him even more. He’s been through so much and I’m scared that this is his tipping point.

“No you didn’t. You and I know too much about this stuff to know that it wasn’t murder.” I debated with reason and logic.

“Yeah, well, I don’t think the judge is gonna see it that way,” he mumbles in response, looking back down at our hands.

“Who else knows?” I ask.

“Just you and Theo.”

“Theo?”

“Yeah, he… uh, he was there. I’m assuming he didn’t tell you?” His head turns back towards me, his eyes narrowing as he reads my face.

“I’d rather have _you_ tell me considering you’re the main one involved.” I said while looking back at the board. I stand up and slowly stalk my way towards it, observing and analysing more of its contents.

“Anyway, what’s going on between you and Theo? Found anything useful yet?” Stiles questions as he stands behind me, watching as I write my profile of the Dread Doctors next to the ‘masked killers’ Stiles had wrote on the board.

“Apart from what he’s already told you and I about his family, no. But he said he might invite me over for dinner with his parents.”

“This…this is good. This gives you the chance to snoop around his house without it being a breaking and entering charge.”

“Stiles…” I sigh, dropping the marker on the holding at bottom of the board before turning around to face him.

“What?” His arms fold over against his chest as he examines my face. Like Stiles and his fidgeting, I had a habit of chewing my bottom lip whenever I had doubts or was in denial about something. “You’re considering backing out, aren’t you?”

“I…I don’t know. It’s been a month and a half and he hasn’t done anything-“

“Yet-“ He mumbles as he cuts me off. Noah knocks on the door and sighs when he sees Stiles and I at the crime board.

“You two are like the Bonnie and Clyde to solving crime,” he jokes, shaking his head. I found his simile to be kind of odd, considering Bonnie and Clyde were the criminals. Either way, it was cute. Noah reminds me a lot of my father. Beside the fact that they’re both well-respected cops, but the way Noah has always cared for me, been by my side through thick and thin, and has been like a second father to me, always warms my heart. He’s even mentioned to me numerous times before that to him, I am the daughter he wish he had. I suppose that makes me feel even closer to Stiles.

“Hey dad, how can I prove that someone’s up to something with them actually doing anything?” Stiles asks, ignoring Noah’s comment.

“Is this about Theo again?”

“Dad, please.”

“You sure this kid's guilty?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then all you got to do is wait. If they're really guilty? Eventually, they make a mistake. They always make a mistake.”

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Theo came back later that night as promised. My eye widen with excitement as I see the pizza box he held in his hands.

“Oh my god, yes! Finally!” I exclaim as I take the box and bring it into the kitchen.

“Hell hello to you too,” Theo chuckles, closing the door behind him before entering the kitchen. I grab out the coke bottles and a couple of glasses before motioning for him to follow me up to my room. He carries the pizza box with him and sets it on my bed as he sits cross-legged on it, waiting for me to get settled.

“What’d you wanna watch?” I ask, pouring us the coke.

“I’ve heard ‘New Girl’ is pretty good,” he comments. I hand him his glass before sitting down on the bed.

“Have you not seen it?” I laugh as I pull the pizza box closer and in between us.

“Nah, I always seem to miss it when it’s on tv,” he jokes. I laugh and type it into Netflix, clicking onto the pilot episode.

Theo and I watched about 3 episodes before we finished the pizza. At the start of the 4th episode, I began clearing the space, taking our glasses and the pizza box down into the kitchen. I walk back into my room and stride over to Theo, pushing the laptop to the end of the bed before climbing on top of him to straddle his waist. Our lips connect softly together as we kiss. Theo’s tongue traces my lips as I open my mouth wider, allowing Theo’s tongue to slips in and explore my small mouth. My hands move from his shoulders to the back of his neck, tugging at the strands of hair. I move my hips in a back and forth motion as I grind down on him and we both let out a quiet moan. Theo pulls back from the kiss and asks if I’m okay with this.

“Yeah, I just really need you,” I giggle, leaning down to kiss him again.

“Tell me if you start to feel uncomfortable or want me to stop, okay?” He says, attaching his lips to mine, and I make an ‘mhmm’ sound against his lips, grounding my hips into his once again. Theo lets out a small groan and tugs at my shirt, detaching his lips from mine for a minute to take my pj shirt off.He kisses down my jaw and down to my neck, where I tilt my head back and feel my breathing became heavy. Theo sucks my sweet spot, licking it every so often to create more pleasure. He stops for a moment to look at my body.

“Holy sh…” He breathes out. I bite my lip and stare at him, observing his reaction cautiously.

“You look… so fucking beautiful,” it was as if Theo was lost for words. “Can I?” He asks referring to my bra. I nod slowly and feel his warm hands slide up my back, rubbing small circles to calm my nervous state, before he unclasped it. I grab the straps and slowly took the bra off

“You still okay with this?” Theo asks, still mesmerised by my beauty. I nod and lean down to kiss him against. As we kiss, his hands move from their position on my hips to my boobs, squeezing them gently. I gasp, breaking the kiss for a second.

“You like that, aye?” He smirks slightly, squeezing again, and receiving the same reaction as before. I kiss down to his neck and begin to feel more confident as his head tilts back against the headboard. I copy Theo’s actions from before, and begin to kiss his sweet spot. Once again, my hips move at a slow pace, but enough to make both of us moan out softly. I could feel his bulge growing bigger, as Theo became more turned on by the second. I kiss his neck then kiss his lips again. He continues to massage my boobs, and my hands tug at the strands of his hair harder. I throw my head back in pleasure, and he took this as an opportunity to kiss in between my boobs in an effort to tease me. His lips kiss and suck on my right boob, whilst he massages the left. I moan out a little louder than before. It honestly sounded like music to his ears, and it encouraged him to carry on with his actions, moving onto the left.

“Mm,” I moan and bite my lips gently. Theo’s hand moves down to my hips, twisting my underwear around his fingers.

“Is this okay?” He asks, pulling away from my boobs. I look down at him and nod, still chewing on my bottom lip. “We don’t have to, you know that right? I don’t want to force you into doing an-“

“Theo. I’m okay, I promise. I’m just nervous that’s all. It’s been quite a while since I’ve done this,” I admit.

“Okay,” Theo whispers against my lips. “Wait,” he says, pulling away from the kiss. I look at him in concern, but watch as he shuffles down the bed, with me still straddling his waist.

“That’s better,” he chuckles, and lays down so his head is on the pillow. I giggle, placing my hands on his toned chest and wait for him to get comfortable.

“Okay, we’re good now,” he laughs. I lean down and kiss him passionately, and Theo gently flips me over so he’s now hovering over me. His hands are placed on either side of my head, and he plays with my hair slightly.

“You’re so gorgeous,” he whispers, leaning down and kissing my neck. I just smile in response, my hands tugging at his shirt. He sits up and takes his shirt off, causing me to suck in a breath as I look him up and down, placing my hands on his chiseled abs. He chuckles at my reaction and leans down once more to kiss my neck. Slowly, he makes his way down to my boobs again, kissing in between them before travelling further down my stomach. I laugh as it tickles me, to which Theo chuckled in response, purposely leaving kisses all over my stomach.

Theo listens carefully to my heartbeat as he kisses the elastic of my underwear, tracing his hands over the lace. He smiles against my skin as he begins kissing my inner thighs, knowing how much of an effect he has on me. He runs a finger up my clothed clit and I gasp at the feeling. Theo stops kissing my body and just lays in-between my thighs, watching intently as he rubs small circles on my clit that was covered by my underwear that complimented my body oh-so-well. My head fell back into the pillows as I whine, bucking my hips up for more. Taking the lace fabric between his fingers, he gently and slowly pulls it down my legs, throwing it behind him. My heart beats faster and I bite my lip in nervousness. I place my hands on my stomach, playing with my shaking fingers. Theo notices my breathing fasten and my shaking hands and he grabs them, intertwining his fingers through mine.

He kisses up my thighs again, until he gets to the spot where I need him most. Theo places a gentle kiss on my clit, my hands immediately went to his hair and tugged on it. He licks a stripe and begins to kitty-lick my clit. My moans become louder by the second, and I close my eyes, enjoying the utmost pleasure that Theo was giving me. He seemed so experienced at it, I began to wonder where he learned it all from. _Porn maybe?_ Theo squeezed my hands before detaching one hand, taking a finger in his mouth before inserting it into my wet entrance.

“Fuck,” I gasp, feeling his finger slide in me. With his tongue working my clit, and his finger working the inside of me, I felt nothing but pure pleasure. My moans got a slight bit louder as he inserts another finger in.

“Does this hurt?” Theo asks, pulling his head away from me. I whine at the loss of contact on my clit, but shakes my head ‘no’. He curls his fingers up, doing a ‘come here’ motion, and I just lost it. My back arches and I grip Theo’s hair tighter, shoving his face further into me. His tongue circles my clit and flicks it up and down it a few times, making me grip his hair a little harder, causing Theo to grunt which only sent vibrations on my clit.

“Shit, Theo… Fuck,” I moan loudly. “I-I’m close,” I whimper.

“Shit… shit… Fuck, Theo. Oh!” I moan out, releasing all over his fingers. He continues to ride out my high before slowly pulling his fingers out, hovering back over me again, kissing me passionately.

“Was that okay?” He asks.

“More than okay. Holy shit, it was so fucking good,” I pant, giggling slightly.

“Do you want to continue, or just leave it here?” Theo questions, playing with the strands of my hair.

“Is it okay if we continue?” I ask quietly.

“Of course, baby,” he leans down to capture yet another kiss. My hands trace down his chest and palms him through his jeans, earning a groan from Theo. He rests his forehead on mine, breathing out heavily as I continue to palm him a slight bit harder than before. Theo’s reaction is only turning me on more and in a hasty motion, I pull the zipper down. He sits up and unbuttons his jeans before pulling them down, along with his boxers and throwing them down onto the floor. He grinds into me and I flip us over quickly, giggling as I hear him moan. Taking his hard cock in my hand, I move my hand up and down slowly, teasing him just like he teased me before. Theo grips the sheets and moans out. The sight of him only makes me wetter. I run my thumb over his tip, making him shudder. Smirking at his reaction, I do it a few more times, before Theo gently grabs my arm, stopping me actions.

“What’s wrong? If everything okay? Did I do someth-“ You were cut of by Theo’s soft lips against yours.

“You did nothing wrong, it’s okay,” he chuckles. “I just didn’t want to… you know… cum before we’ve even started,” his cheeks flush a light shade of red.

“Oh, right,” I smile warmly at him. He flips me over and kisses down my neck again while I reach into my drawers for a condom.

“Don’t worry, they’re not expired. Lydia buys me a new packet every 6 months or so as a running joke we have,” I explain. He chuckles in reply as he carefully opens the packet, and rolls the condom on. Theo teases my entrance with his cock, causing me to breathe out softly. He starts to push in and drops his head into the crook of my neck, sighing in pleasure.

“Fuck,” I gasp, my hands already clawing down his back. Theo holds my other hand in his, bringing it to the side of my head as he begins to move his hips very slowly, being cautious not to break me. I groan at the sightly uncomfortableness but I allow Theo to keep going. Like I told Theo, it had been a while. Last time I had sex was with Isaac, which would’ve been a good two years ago now.

Finally, after a few moments of Theo slowly thrusting in and out of me, I let out a quiet moan, feeling a slight bit of pleasure. He runs a finger down my sides and circles my clit, causing me to moan a little louder.

“Th-Theo,” I moan, squeezing his hand. His thrusts become harder and the wall begins to take it thrust by thrust, banging against the wall while the mattress squeaks underneath us. Theo pulls out and roughly flips me over to my stomach, lifting my hips up before slamming back into me. I moan loudly into the mattress and curl my hands in the sheets, feeling my pussy tighten around his cock in response. His fingers dig into my hips as he pounds into me, his head tilting back in pleasure.

“Oh my god!” I whine as I move my body against his. Grabbing me by the hair, he pulls me up against his chest and sucks on my neck.

“Theo,” I sigh in pleaure.

“I know, baby,” he moans, snaking a hand down my body to rub my clit fast. My head tilts back against his shoulder and my moans became uncontrollable as I get fucked. I silently thank Scott and Melissa for not being home in this moment, because I don’t really feel like having my cousin and aunt hear me get railed. The build up to my orgasm starts to feel more and more intense with each thrust. He pushes me back down to the mattress and pushes his hips harder into me.

“Theo! Fuck!” I whimper as my orgasm hits my for the second time. My walls pulse around him and he moans in response.

“Fuck, y/n. I-“ He moans. “F…uck,” Theo goes stiff for a moment as he cums inside the condom.

“Oh god… Ugh,” Theo moans as he rocks slowly and gently into me, riding out his high before he pulls out and collapsing onto the bed. We both lie there, hugging each other while calming down from our highs and catching our breaths. When we are able to breathe properly, Theo disposes the condom and grabs them a towel to clean up with. He cleans us both up, peppering me with kisses, causing me to giggle and licks his nose.

“Did you just lick my nose?” Theo asks, pretending to be offended.

“You bet I did,” I giggle. Theo climbs in the bed next to me and pulls me close so my head is on his chest. After about 20 minutes, Theo feels my breathing slow as I fall asleep.

“I think I’m starting to fall in love with you,” I heard Theo whisper before kissing the top of my head.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

It’s been a few days since that night. School on Wednesday had already been a drag, especially because all of my worst subjects are on that day, including maths which was last. I sat next to Malia in math class, with Ms. Martin being our teacher. Natalie knew about the supernatural world, although I believe she’s trying to deny its existence, let alone Lydia’s abilities. I’m not sure if the denial is due to vulnerability or fear; vulnerability to the possibility to being subjugated by a supernatural being, or fear of death.

“Beth? Please close your computer. I won’t ask again,” Ms. Martin frowns at Beth, who’s sitting in front of Malia and I. Both of us look at her laptop screen before she closes it. She seems to be researching the supernatural and the moon phases, what it means and what allegedly happens. She’s chewing on her nail pretty heavily, biting it down to the bone. Literally. Her nail falls onto the table, and her finger began bleeding a black substance, meaning only one thing: she’s a Chimera.

“Malia,” I whisper to her. Without turning my head, I look at her and notice she’s watching Beth too. Beth turns around, peering around the classroom to see if anyone saw, only widening her eyes and bolting out of the classroom when she notices Malia and I staring. Both of us stand up immediately and head towards the door, but are stopped by Ms. Martin.

“Malia, [y/n]. If you have to use the restroom, it’s one at a time. And, if you’re planning on leaving class, I’d consider your recent drop in grades, Malia,” she says sternly with her voice low so other students don’t hear.

“She needs help,” I beseech, trying hard not to overstep any boundaries or disrespect her.

“Not from you,” she objects disapprovingly.

“You know what’s going on, don’t you?” Malia questions, taking a step as she inches closer to Natalie.

“I know that I’d like to see you get through senior year with passing grades,” she sighs as she reiterates her statement from before.

“You know more than that.” Malia questions, flashing her coyote eyes at her.

“I think you need to focus more on your schoolwork — all of you,” she looks between Malia and I as she gets her final word in. Malia pushes past Natalie, looking both ways in search for Beth before heading down the corridor.

“I’m sorry,” I apologise, giving her a small, sympathetic smile before following Malia. We find Beth at her locker, putting away her books.

“Beth, are you okay?” I ask in a gentle, concerned voice.

“Why are you talking to me? You don’t know anything about me and my condition,” she stutters. She looks visibly scared. Her hands are shaking, she’s looking into her locker with her head down slightly as she attempts to avoid eye contact with Malia and I.

“What do you mean?” Malia questions, furrowing her eyebrows.

“My condition…my condition…my condition,” Beth repeats.

“Hey, you don’t wanna be alone—“ Malia approaches her slowly, but Beth is quick to punch her and throw her against the wall of lockers.

“Malia!” I exclaim, running to her side.

“Don’t worry about me, go follow her,” she grunts. I nod and stand up, catching a sight of Beth’s shoe as she runs around the corner. As I chase after her, I’m holt to a stop when she runs outside and gets immediately trapped into the arms of a Doctor. Malia stumbles into me and gasps as she sees the Doctor roughly spin Beth around, holding her head in a lock; one hand is on the back of her head, while the other is wrapped tightly her mouth. Although we can’t see his eyes, we know he’s look directly at us as he snaps Beth’s neck.

“Holy shit,” I gasp as I watch her body fall to the ground. The Doctor nonchalantly walks away as Malia and I rush to Beth’s side.

“Beth!” Malia checks for a pulse and whimpers softly when she can’t feel anything. The bell rings, signalling its the end of the day.

“Malia, we have to go,” my voice croaks. I grab under her arm and pull her up and away from the body. She’s silent as we walk through the halls. We stop Stiles and he rushes towards us when he notices Malia’s worrisome face.

“Malia? Hey, what happened?” He asks concernedly.

“I hate this. I hate losing like this. I’m not like Scott — I can’t deal with another body, another failure.” She frets in reply, sighing as she walks away. While walking with Stiles, I told him what happened.

“I’ll call Lydia and tell her. She’s with Parrish.” We had suspected Parrish of being the one who’s taking the bodies, so Lydia went out with him today to find where he might be taking them. Feeling my phone vibrate in my back pocket, I glance at the screen.

“Hey, Scott, what’s up?”

“I’m coming to the school to pick you up, we need to find Liam. I think the Dread Doctors are after Hayden.”

“Okay, yeah sure, I’ll wait out front,” I reply before hanging up. Not even 5 minutes after I walk outside, Scott’s car motorbike up. Hurriedly, I put my helmet on and jump on the back and he speeds off.

“So I was at the hospital earlier with Theo and I think Corey’s more dangerous than we thought,” he states.

“What happened? Is he okay?” I ask worriedly. He tells me about how earlier today Corey had started to bleed mercury so the ambulance took him to the hospital, but as Theo and Scott arrived, the hospital was a mess. Wheelchairs were flipped over and the doctors and nurses were frantically trying to keep everyone calm.

“How’re you so sure it was Corey?”

“Because he wasn’t even at there, and I doubt the Dread Doctors got to him on the way to the hospital considering we weren’t far behind from the ambulance.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure Liam’s with Hayden at Sinema,” I inform Scott. He turns a corner as starts heading the in direction of the club.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Scott parks just outside the club’s entrance and we run inside, already hearing the commotion from outside. Scott flicks his claws out and glows his Alpha eyes, growling at the Doctor who’s slowly approaching Hayden. She fearfully glances in our direction and for a moment is comforted knowing that we’re here to help. While Scott distracted the Doctor by launching himself at it, I quickly sneak over to Hayden and grab her hand, pulling us behind the bar and couching down so the Doctor can’t see us. Scott is thrown against the wall and groans in pain, coughing slightly as he tries to recover. Liam is quick to his feet, throwing punches at the Doctor, before he too, is thrown onto the ground. Scott gathers himself up from the ground and growls again before punching the Doctor. However, just like with Liam, the Doctor shows to have no effect. He’s quick to flip Scott over, thrashing him hard on the ground, causing Scott to yelp in pain once more. The Doctor spots Hayden and I and begins making clicking-like sounds before slowly approaching us. Protectively, I stand in front of Hayden with my hand pushing her body as far behind me as possible. Before he could get any closer, Liam growls and kicks himself up to his feet, striking the Doctor with his foot which causes him to stumble back slightly. The Doctor blocks every coming punch before eventually crashing Liam’s small frame on the ground harshly. He stalks his way back over to Scott as he notices him standing up, only to knock him back down again. His gloved-hand seems to release some sort of electro-magnetic thing, that I cannot describe, to Scott’s face.

“Stay here, and don’t make a sound,” I mutter quietly to Hayden. Before she could say anything else, I carefully sneak up behind the Doctor.

“Hey, asshole,” I call out to him, causing him to turn and stand up. Kicking him in the stomach, he stumbles back towards Scott, who’s already back on his feet. Scott claws at the Doctor before he’s pushed against a metal frame and struck in the head by the Doctor. Quickly dashing back over to Hayden, I stand in front of her again knowing that the Doctor is going to come after her next. My attention is drawn to a figure with glowing eyes running in towards Liam, only to realise it was Theo in his wolf form.

“Get Hayden out of here, go!” He exclaims to Liam, who scurries quickly to his feet.

“Hayden!” Liam screams as he runs towards us. Theo forcefully turns the Doctor to face him before throwing hard punches to his stomach. He’s thrown to the ground, just like how Scott and Liam were. Before I could react, another Doctor yanks me by my hair causing me to yelp in pain.

“You bitch!” I scream as I take his wrist, using all my muscles to flip him over. He takes no effect and easily stands back up, quickly turning my back to him and holding me in a tight grasp. Hayden lets out a scream and as I peer over to her, she’s trapped in a headlock by a third Doctor. 

“Hayden!” Liam screams, running to the back area where Hayden and I are. The Doctor places syringe to her neck, and while making sure both of us are looking, he injects her with mercury. Her eyes began to fill with the mercury, the silvery substance glossing over her eyes for only a few moments. Liam screams as he watches Hayden drop to the ground. The Doctor holding me, lets go and slowly walks away with the other Doctor. Liam and I rush to Hayden’s side, silently thanking that she’s still alive.

“Help the others,” Liam mumbles to me. I nod and pat Hayden’s shoulder before rushing off. Theo’s still fighting the first Doctor, throwing more punches and kicks to him. While approaching both of them to help Theo, I notice him mumble something, but I’m too far away to hear what was said. The Doctor says something incoherent in reply before throwing Theo down to the ground and walking away. Scott sits up and glances between Theo and I.

“Where’s Hayden?” He asks worriedly. Taking them both into the back area, we see Hayden being held up to her feet gently by Liam.

“I’m okay, really. I think I’m okay.” her attempt at reassuring Liam didn’t seem too convincing to him.

“We saw the needle go in, and her eyes… They went completely silver,” he said to Theo and Scott.

“She looks okay. Maybe she’ll heal,” replies Theo as he peers over at Hayden.

“Or maybe she won’t,” Scott mumbles.

“What if something’s happened to her on the inside?” Liam theorises fearfully.

“Get them to the animal clinic. I’ll meet you there,” Scott instructs Theo, quickly turning on his heels and heading towards the exit. We follow shortly behind him, piling into Theo’s car.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Hayden stumbles into the clinic and immediately falls to the floor, screaming in pain. Liam rushes to her side and cradles her in his arms, trying his best to console her. I scramble through the various antidotes that Deaton has in the medical room, hoping that there’s something for poison. Once I find something decent enough to inject her with, I load some of it into a syringe.

“Are you sure it’s going to work?” Liam asks, clutching her hand tightly.

“We can’t know for sure, but it’ll at least slow down the effects of it,” I think my calming demeanour calms Hayden down because she begins losing her grip on Liam’s arm and leaning forward toward me so I can inject it. After I did so, I stood up and place it into a syringe bin before sitting back down beside her. Theo crouches down beside me and places a gentle, soothing hand on my lower back under my shirt slightly, using his thumb to stroke the softness of my skin. I smile at him and rest my head on his shoulder, all of us silent as we wait for Scott.

Within at least 5 minutes of us sitting there, we hear yelling and some kind of argument outside. Hayden begins screaming in pain, meaning that the antidote had subsided and began causing her pain once again. Scott storms in a few moments later and Theo stands up.

“She’s getting worse. I think she’s dying. It’s got to be some kind of mercury poisoning,” he tells Scott, who worriedly glances at Hayden.

“Scott, remember what you promised me — you said you’d do everything you could to save her. If she’s a real Werewolf, we can save her. You gotta give her the Bite,” Liam pleads desperately.

“No.”


	10. Status Asthmaticus

“What do you mean, ‘no’?” Liam asks perplexed, his eyebrows pinch together as his eyes focus on Scott’s. Both of them can feel the anger starting to boil in Liam; a rage that only came out when things don’t go his way, especially when it comes to a life or death situation.

“Liam, look at her. She’s too weak. It’ll kill her. We don’t even know what the mercury’s doing to her. We don’t even know if it’s actually mercury. This can’t be the only way to save her,” Scott argues back, frustrated at how little there is left. He pinches the top of his nose, an exasperated sigh leaving his lips as he sorts through his thoughts to figure out what to do.

“It saved Liam’s,” I defended, hoping Scott will drop his guard a little bit.

“You know that was different. He was hanging off a ledge,” Scott objects, glancing at me sternly.

“You promised. You said you’d do everything you could,” Liam pleads, his eyes glossing with tears at the thought of losing Hayden.

“There has to be…” Scott sighs.

“Excuse me,” I mutter quietly, pushing past Scott and Liam to head towards the bathroom. Closing the door behind me, I lean against it and let out a lamenting breath. It’s hard to see people dying all the time and not being able to save them. I slowly drudge over to the sink and wash my face with cold water, hoping it’ll calm me down. A knock is placed on the door and Theo walks in.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” His voice held so much concern as he rushes to my side. His hands hold my shoulders as a sign of comfort, causing them to drop gently into his touch.

“I just…I’m so scared. I know I put up a front and act like the hope that people need right now, but what if it’s my fault that Hayden’s dying,” my eyes grow dull as my face falls into a frown. He turns me around so my butt is against the sink and his body is pulled so close to me, I can almost feel his heartbeat against my chest.

“[y/n]…it’s not your fault. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it a million times, you don’t have to be strong all the time. It’s okay to have your moments, and that’s perfectly okay. We’re living in this scary world where monsters are real. Of course you’re going to be scared.”

“I know I just…I don’t know,” I sigh. Theo pulls me into a tight hug and I secure my arms around his waist. Pulling away slightly, he leans down at captures my lips in a kiss. The softness of his lips and the passion he put into the kiss instantly eases me.

“I heard you say that you’re falling for me the other night,” I giggle, distracting myself from the current events that are just happening outside the door.

“Shit, you did?” His face scrunches in embarrassment as his cheeks burn a shade of red. My fingers dance against his chest as he rubs the back of his neck, chuckling awkwardly while avoiding eye contact.

“Yeah,” I mumble against his lips as I pull him down for another kiss. “I just want to say that I think I’m fall-“

“[y/n], sorry to interrupt, but can I talk to you please? It’s urgent.” Scott interrupts, knocking on the door and entering the bathroom. His jaw is clenched in either stress or anger, it was too early to tell, but his eyes appear to be cold; pupils dilated slightly and narrow.

“Yeah, of course what’s up?” My eyebrows furrow in concern, pushing myself away from Theo.

“It’s about Stiles.” He swallows.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Theo excuses himself and heads towards Liam and Hayden. Scott begins to inform me about the incident at the library. According to whatever source he heard it from, Stiles bludgeoned Donovan to death with a wrench in the library, not stopping until his face was caved in.

“That’s not what happened!” I exclaim, completely bewildered that Scott would even believe such a ridiculous accusation.

“[y/n] I know it’s hard to believe but-“

“Scott please, you have to believe me. Stiles didn’t _do_ that,” my arms flailing in stress, not understanding why I have to even convince him.

“Yeah and were you there?” He bickers, eyes growing cold with rage; it was almost like a windstorm blowing out a flickering flame.

“No but-“

“But Theo was and he told me everything. I don’t know what kind of game you and Stiles playing with Theo, but it ends now. He’s a good guy, [y/n]. You should know that by now considering you’ve been spending more time with him recently,” he shot back, his jaw clenching. Scott’s neck began tighten as the air becomes tense and he rolls his neck to relieve some stress.

“Excuse me?” I scoff in disbelief, my arms hugging my chest as my eyes widen in complete offence.

“[y/n], just drop it, okay? We’ve got bigger things to worry about,” he sighs, nudging my shoulder harshly as he walks back into the room after hearing Theo call out to him. I dash out into the medical room behind Scott and hear Hayden screaming in pain.

“Guys, I don’t know what the statistics are for serving a Werewolf bite, but she’s definitely not surviving this. We need to do something.” Theo asserts.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Melissa arrives at the clinic only after a few minutes of receiving a call from Scott. She brings medical equipment and treatment in the hope of saving Hayden. She seemed to be getting worse by the second; sweat dripping from her face, her breathing become irregular as she struggled to gasp for air, and pupils dilated while she fought for her life. While Melissa set the medical room up with drips and medications, Liam watches in confusion and concern.

“What’s that?” He asks as Melissa hooks an IV-drip-like bag to a hook.

“It’s called chelation therapy. It removes metals from the blood. But the problem is, it can injure the kidneys, and Hayden only has one to begin with, so…” she explains, inserting a drip into Hayden, who groans in pain. I chew my bottom lip and close my eyes as I hear the distresses screams from Hayden.

“You’re hurting her!” Liam exclaims, wrapping a hand around Melissa’s wrist in an attempt to stop her. My eyes shoot open and give Liam a warning glare, hoping he’ll pick up my chemosignals.

“And _you’re_ hurting me.” She says sternly.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, avoiding eye contact while he takes his hand off Melissa.

“Hey guys? Remember, we’re here to save a life, not kill each other,” Theo reminds them while glancing at Liam sternly.

“Can I talk to you, please?” I whisper to Theo from beside him. “Outside?” He nods and follows me outside, gently closing the back door behind him. He takes cautious steps towards me, but furrows his eyebrows as he watches me take a few steps backwards. From my stature alone, he could tell something wasn’t right.

“What did you tell Scott about the incident at the library with Donovan?” My voice taut with anger.

“What’re you talking about?” Theo breathes perplexed breath at my question. He felt almost lucky that I couldn’t hear his heart because he could feel it start to rise; pounding so hard and viciously, he genuinely thought it would burst in his chest.

“Drop the act, Theo.” I snap, not taking any of his bullshit. The logic side of my brain seemed to have made an ultimatum for him; either he tells me the truth or I leave him — and then curse myself for ever getting involved with him in the first place.

“I told the truth,” he shrugs, inching slowly closer to me.

“Bullshit. Stiles told me the truth. He told me exactly what happened.” My teeth grit together while I spoke. If I was a fire, then Theo would be the fuel who’s causing the fire to rage in a black smoke.

“Are you really gonna believe something that he said, considering _he’s_ the one who straight up murdered Donovan? He’s not who he says he is, [y/n],” Theo retaliates in a low voice so no one else heard.

“And you’re not any better?” I cross my arms over my chest and raise an unimpressed eyebrow at him.

“Where is this coming from?” Theo says in disbelief.

“You know what, forget it,” I sigh and push past him towards the door. He reaches his hand out and pulls me back to face him. The touch of his fingers cause shivers to run down my spine as he traces his fingertips down my arm until he reaches my hands.

“You’re just stressed, okay. You have every right to be. Look, I talked to Scott before and I’ve got to get to the school, but how about when tonight is all over, we go out for dinner and destress a little?” He suggests while his eyes bore heavily into mine like he was trying to put me under a spell.

“Fine,” I sigh for what must be the millionth time this night, shrugging his hands off me before turning to walk back into the clinic, not even bothering to kiss him goodbye. I’m too mad at him to give him any affection right now.

Slowly entering the medical room, I glance sadly at Liam. I feel sorry for him, I mean this is his first love and she’s dying right in front of his eyes. It had been about 5 minutes since my talk with Theo, and Hayden seems to be getting worse.

“It’s not working, is it?” Liam frowns, not being able to withstand the sight of Hayden struggling.

“She should be showing sighs of improvement,” Melissa replies. She takes ahold of Hayden’s hand as she breathes fitfully on the exam table.

“Call Val…My sister…Valerie,” Hayden chokes out, feeling her lungs begin to tighten while she gasps for air.

“I think I might know where she is. Theo just texted me about the high school. He said there’s cops everywhere. Might be another Chimera.” Scott informs us while he glances at the text message.

“My sister…I don’t want to die without my sister,” Hayden breathes heavily.

“I’ll get her.” Scott declares.

“Wait — what’re you going to tell her?” Liam worries, concerned that Scott is going to spill the secrets of the supernatural world.

“If I have too…I’ll tell her everything.”

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Hayden got a whole lot worse after Scott left. Her skin started displaying odd animal-like patterns up her arms and neck, making us all worried about her state. Melissa knew she wasn’t going to make it, but still wanted to try everything she could. However, of course being in an animal clinic, it made it harder for her to treat Hayden, so she decided that we should take her to hospital.

So here we stand, in one of the floors that is under construction and away from everyone else. Melissa ran out of the room to grab some more supplies, leaving a tired and worn-out Liam, a passed-out Hayden and me in a small room.

“Why’re you with Theo?” Liam asks, breaking the silence. The room became thick with rigidity and uneasiness. I could tell Liam hated Theo from the moment he met him. No ounce of trust or assuredness towards Theo could be found in Liam. He hated that perfect smile, perfect body and that charming appeal Theo had. He hated that Theo had an effect on me; that he was the one to win me over. One thing Liam never told a soul — not even Mason — was that he had a crush on the one and only [y/n] McCall. Of course he could never tell anyone, I mean sure, he was kind of with Hayden now, but he knew I would dismiss it.

“You don’t understand—“

“He’s just using you, [y/n]. No one, other than Scott, trusts him. I just…I just don’t wanna be the one to tell you ‘I told you so’,” he glances sadly down at his feet. Liam shuffles in his place, kicking his feet slightly as if he were kicking rocks.

“Once you actually get to know him, he’s nothing like the profile,” I defend in Theo’s honour, offended that he even said that. Liam hadn’t even spent more than 5 minutes with him, so what would he know?

“Is that actually him? Or is it the side that he wants you to see?” Liam bickers harshly, looking up at me and folding his arms over his chest as he huffs an angry sigh. I hate seeing him angry. It didn’t scare me as it does with most people, considering he does have quite the temper, but his anger is usually directed at people; and right now, that person is either me or Theo.

“Bambi, you don’t understand. It’s just a profile. Profiles can you wrong, you know. He’s different when he’s around me. I can see how vulnerable and scared he is—“

“You’re just making excuses for him. You’re one of the most important people in my life. You’ve been through so much and I feel like you should be with someone who’ll treat you right. Someone who’ll make you feel at home,” he asserts with sympathy, dropping his angry guard down.

“Yeah, well, someone like who, Bambi?” I challenge, tilting an eyebrow up at him.

“Someone like m—“ he cuts himself off before he could incriminate himself. “Someone other than Theo, that’s for sure.”

“Got it,” Melissa rushes into the room with the pain medication, interrupting the conversation. Liam felt sort of relieved, seeing as he almost outed himself in the worst way possible. “How is she doing?”

“She’s still passed out, but her temperature seems to be under control. Her blood pressure hasn’t elevated any more than before and her heart rate seems to be the same — high — but no higher than before you left,” I give Melissa the run down and she nods, writing it down on a chart.

“ugh,” Hayden whimpers as she slowly wakes up.

“What’s happening?” Liam frets, his hand squeezing onto Hayden’s tightly to let her know he’s there.

“I’m not sure. But it’s definitely not good,” worries Melissa as she examines Hayden.

“My sister…” Hayden breathes fitfully.

“Scott’s out looking for her right now. He’s going to bring her here as soon as he can, alright?” She reassures Hayden, stroking her hair.

“Can you call Scott?” She whispers to me. I nod and dial his number. No answer. My finger hovers over Theo’s name and I shake the nerves away, knowing that I shouldn’t be making this about me right now. I dial his number. No answer. Are you kidding me?

“No answer.” I sigh, slapping my phone against my leg slightly as I drop my arm in frustration.

“I think I know where he might be,” Liam chimes in before rushing out of the room and down the hall, where we can hear the elevator ding.

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Mason was quick to arrive at the hospital after I called. We needed his help and Scott and Liam — or anyone else for that matter — were no where to be found. No one was answering their phones and we were on a race against time because the ‘supermoon’ was only just beginning to hash its effects on everyone and Hayden was in no state of getting out of here.

“Shouldn’t we be talking to one of the doctors?” Mason pants as he runs into the room. His eyes peer over at Hayden and his heart sank, knowing that she isn’t getting any better.

“I’ve been wrestling with that for hours. Do we bring them in and watch them treat her as a normal patient while we stand here knowing that’s not going to work? Or do we keep trying to do everything medically possible to save her while her body does things that shouldn’t be medically possible?” Melissa stresses while she scrambles through more medicines.

“Is she dying?” Frets Mason. He gulps and watches as Hayden continues to breathe fitfully.

“With the amount of mercury in her body right now? She shouldn’t even be _alive_ ,” Melissa breathes fearfully. She glances up at Mason and I for a moment before refocussing her attention to Hayden. My hand nudges Mason’s arm, causing his eyes to glance over at me. I nod towards the wall and we both sat down against it, giving Melissa all the space she needs to do what she needs to do.

“How do you do it?” Mason whispers to me. I turn to face him and tilt my head to the side, silently asking what he meant. “How do you deal with death and people dying all the time. I mean, how does it not effect you?”

“It effects everyone, Mason. I don’t think there’s one person on this earth where death doesn’t effect them. I’ve just…I’ve dealt with death for too long to know how compartmentalise and actually deal with my emotions. Besides, if I wanna work in the FBI, I’m gonna have to know how to be desensitised to this kind of stuff,” I explain, resting my head on his shoulder for comfort. He hums as he listens, playing with the laces on his hoodie. Melissa gently picks up Hayden’s arm and checks for a pulse.

“Oh no, no, no…I think you better get Liam,” Melissa falters, peering over at Mason and I. The panic in Mason starts to amplify as he’s quick on his feet. I stand beside Mason and notice the heart monitor noises start to slow as Hayden’s heart slows.

“What about Scott?”

“He’s not answering. And if Liam wants to be with her, he needs to get here now… Because she’s dying, and I don’t know what else to do,” she sniffs as the tears begin to well in her eyes. Mason bolts out of the room, leaving Melissa and I to hold each of Hayden’s hand. The monitor slows even more and Hayden’s body temperature begins to drop and the monitor begins to slow before eventually drawing out one big beep, signalling that he heart had stopped. A silver, mercury-filled tear slips from Hayden’s eyes as she lets go.

“Fuck,” I sniff, wiping away a tear that had fallen down my cheek.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Melissa and I sat with Hayden for about a half hour before Liam came springing in. His cheeks flustered with bruises and cuts plastered all over his face and clothes. He told us that Scott is at the library, hashing it out with Theo. Melissa quickly shoves her phone into her pocket, mumbling for me to come with her.

We get to the school and bust open the doors to the library. Theo can be seen with his claws organ-deep in Scott’s stomach, blood dripping from his fingers to the floor.

“Because I’m a Chimera? Because I’m not a real werewolf?” Theo mutters sinisterly in Scott’s ear. My heart drops as I hear those vicious words, cursing to myself that he was the bad guy afterall. If I hadn’t have been so stupid in believing his affectionate words, and fallen for his charm and charisma, then maybe I — and Scott — wouldn’t be in this position right now.

“Because you’re barely even human,” Scott chokes out harshly. Theo pulls his claws out and Scott drops to the ground, blood pouring from his mouth as he breathes his last breath.

“Scott!” Melissa screams, running towards Scott. Theo turns around and notices me standing in the doorway, my legs barely even keeping me up. Avoiding eye contact, he walks past me and drives off to god-knows-where. Tears spill from my eyes as I drop to Scott’s side, holding a hand and praying that he’s still alive. Melissa begins doing compressions on him, counting each one she does.

“What’re you doing?” Mason asks emotionless.

“Bringing him back!” She exclaims at him while continuing the compressions.

“But, his … his heart …he…you can’t just bring him back,” stutters Mason.

“He’s not just someone — he’s my son, and he’s an Alpha, and he’s too strong to die like this,” Melissa cries.

“Come on, Scott. Open your eyes and look at me, okay? Please Scott, please,” I cry, my hand squeezes Scott’s as I cry onto it.

“You can do this, Scott. You’re an Alpha. Roar. Come on, Scott! Roar!” She screams. Scott gasps for air and lets out a loud, thunderous growl, causing us to fall back slightly.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Cuddling up to Scott, he leans his head on mine as it rests on his shoulder. Melissa sat on his other side at the edge of the bed, taking ahold of one of his hands.

“I lost…” he frowns, looking down at his free hand which twiddled and fidgeted.

“Every leader suffers loss. Sometimes more than you think is bearable,” she consoles, caressing the softness of his skin with her thumb.

“And sometimes all we can do is give it our all, even if we do lose,” I comfort, securing my arm around Scott’s tighter.

“But this time, I lost everyone,” he laments. Over these last few weeks, everyone seemed to be preoccupied with their own problems that no one really took a note of what supernatural issues we had at hand; the Dread Doctors are devolving and killing almost anyone they see.

“You’ll get them back,” Melissa reassures, giving him a warm, motherly-smile.

“Why would they come back?” He questions, doubting his own abilities to reunite the Pack. In his eyes, he thinks he failed everyone. That he wasn’t strong even to hold his own Pack regardless of the fact that he’s a true Alpha and have dealt with much worse things. But it was the Pack that got him through those things in the first place. To him, without the Pack, he is nothing.

“Because you’re their leader…And even when leader thinks they have nothing left to give, there’s still one thing — hope. Give them hope.” Melissa advises. Scott thinks for a moment, knowing what he has to do.

“Hey, uh, you and Stiles were right about Theo. How’re you holding up? I’m sure you saw him in the library before,” he apologises to me.

“This isn’t about me right now. You need to focus on healing and getting the Pack back together.”

I spent the night in Scott’s room like we did when we were younger and had those fun, spontaneous sleepovers. I held him close to me as we slept, thanking that he was still alive. Call it weird, but I almost lost one of the most important people in my life tonight and I’m not ready to let him go any time soon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y’all. Idk if I wanna continue with this book? Like 5B would just be them as enemies, but if that’s something you want, please let me know. Also bc it’s a rewrite of the show, idk if that’ll be boring for you?? I’m also more than happy to end it here and write the final chapter and an epilogue about the last episode for the season before moving onto s6 (bc s6 Theo hits different omgg). I still wanna continue the story, but s5 Theo is toxic af and this relationship is toxic which I don’t stan ahah


	11. The Last Chimera

Stepping out of my bedroom, freshly showered and dressed, I heard groans of frustration and pain coming from Scott’s bathroom. Stiles had messaged me earlier this morning worrying about his dad, who I had learned was also hurt by Theo, so I made sure I was ready early so I could meet him at the hospital with breakfast. Knowing Stiles, he probably hasn’t eaten in hours from how stressed he was.

Slowly pushing the door open, I hear Scott letting out a small wince while he presses the cold wet cloth — which was once white — to his sickly wound. Throwing it into the sink, he slams his hand against the porcelain surface.

“Still not healing?” I ask sympathetically while leaning against the doorway, my arms folded over my chest in concern.

“No,” he mumbles, staring at himself in the mirror as if he’s trying to trigger the wolf.

“Scott, it’s okay. It’ll heal, it’s just gonna take a bit of time.”

“It just feels different. I don’t understand, I’ve been through so much worse. Hell, I’ve nearly died countless times, so why does this feel so much worse?” He turns around to face me while leaning against the sink.

“You’re overthinking. You feel like you’ve failed everyone — including yourself — and it’s weighing on you in a psychosomatic way,” I explain,

“But I have failed everyone,” his voice dripping in disappointment and anguish. He needs his Pack back. He needs his _friends_ back.

“No you haven’t. We need each other right now, especially Stiles. I think we all just need to band together again and fight these sons of bitches.”

“I’m gonna get them back, don’t worry,” his sense of optimism is starting to come back, causing a smile to appear on my face in proudness.

“There you go!” I giggle, pulling him into a gentle hug, careful not to hurt his stomach.

“I’m going to visit Stiles at the hospital to bring him something to eat, are you gonna come?”

“Yeah, just give me a few minutes. I’ll meet you there,” he replies, pulling away from me to grab a bandage. I wave him goodbye and head out to Stiles’s favourite breakfast place.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Stiles sat on the edge of the waiting room chair, legs bouncing in anxiety and hands brought to his face as he breathes into his fists. New tears are already replacing the old stained tears on his cheeks, and his eyes are red and puffy with fear and uncertainty. His dad has never been through something this severe before, and he wasn’t ready to lose another parent. Both Noah and Stiles had been through so much with the death of Claudia. Stiles already blames himself for the death of his mum, knowing that he was a major stressor for her when she was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia, and know he blames himself for getting his dad hurt in this mess. If only Scott and everyone else believed him when he told us that Theo was bad news, than maybe Noah wouldn’t have gotten hurt. Maybe Scott wouldn’t have died. Maybe everyone would still be okay.

Rushing to his side, I drop the food by my feet and pull him close to me. Stiles breathes out a lethargic breath, and I can feel a tear drop from his cheek onto the soft fabric of my shirt.

“He’s gonna get through this,” I comfort, rubbing my hand in small circles on his back. He doesn’t say anything but grips her shirt tighter with his hand, silently crying harder into my shirt.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Stiles had fallen asleep on my shoulder about a half-hour ago; his breathing soft and shallow as he sleeps. God, this is all my fault. I let Theo get close to me. That intuition feeling a got on our first date when I asked if he was trying to get to me to get to Scott, was right this whole time. Although it wasn’t to get into the Pack, it was to drain everyone down and suck their enemies out, turn everyone against each other before finally feeding off Scott’s weakened state to kill him. I said it myself in the profile, that he is a person to devolve into someone who’ll kill for his own benefit. And he did. Although Scott’s still alive, he wouldn’t be if it weren’t for Melissa coming to his aid.

I’m shaken out of my thoughts when I see Melissa walking down the hall towards us. She smiles sympathetically at me as she notices.

“How’s he doing?”

“He’s really shaken up. I just wish all of this would stop and just give him a god damn break,” I sigh. Melissa couches down in front of him, placing a gentle motherly hand on his thigh as she shakes him awake. Stiles jolts awake, his breathing rapid and panicky - a complete juxtaposition from only mere seconds ago - while he sits himself up right, eager to hear if she had any news about his dad.

“He’s okay. Dr. Geyer is stitching him up right now.” She calmly informs him.

“Okay. I want to see him” Stiles goes to stand up, but Melissa is quick to ease him back into the chair.

“Okay, okay. The anaesthesia needs to wear off. It’s gonna be at least 2 hours”

“Okay, yeah, but everything’s gonna be okay, though? I mean he’s okay?

“Mhmm. He’s gonna be just fine.” Melissa nods with a reassuring smile. She had a smile that could calm a storm and whenever she gives those reassuring smiles, you know everything is truely going to be okay.

“Oh, thank god,” he sniffs while letting out a shaky, yet relieved, breath. His hand rubs his forehead as tears wells in his eyes. Grabbing his hand as it drops beside him, he looks at me and I bring him in for a hug.

“He’s gonna be okay, he’s gonna be okay,” Stiles repeats to himself into my shoulder.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

”What do you mean, ‘you don’t know’? Two hours ago, he was fine! Now it looks like somebody took a baseball bat to his neck,” Stiles frets, hands balling into a fist to help control his anger. I look down and notice his hands, and make the bold move of lacing my hand in his. I’ve become quite equipped at knowing that touch is not only Stiles’ love language, but its a langue that helps him feel grounded.

“There could’ve been some minor internal —“ in Dr. Geyer’s attempt at calming Stiles down, he’s bluntly interrupted by him.

“Did you say ‘minor internal’? Since when is anything internal minor?” Stiles bickers.

“Stiles…” Melissa attempts to calm him down, but his anger only worsens. My hand on his tightened to signal for him to calm down also, but it doesn’t seem to work either.

“I need to know what’s going on with him, okay? Dr. Geyer, somebody needs to tell me what’s happening to him!” Stiles yells in pure frustration and anguish.

“We don’t know,” Dr. Geyer sighs defeatedly. The elevator dings from behind us and we all shift our attention to it, noticing Scott rushing towards them. Stiles harshly drops my hand and lunges towards Scott. Grabbing the material of Scott’s shirt, Stiles roughly slams him against the wall before thrashing his body to the floor.

“Where were you You trusted him? You believed him? Right? Huh? So, where the hell were you?” Stiles screams with a rage that I’ve never seen in him before.

“Stop it!” I scream at Stiles, using all of my muscles to pull him off Scott.

“Your dad’s not the only one who got hurt—“

Stiles scoffs, rolling his eyes in disbelief. “Oh you’ll heal.”

“I’m not talking about me,” Scott frowns as Stiles became speechless, realising who he’s talking about.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Theo hadn’t just hurt Scott and Noah, he had gotten to Lydia too, as evidenced by the claw marks in the back of her neck. Unlike Scott — or any other werewolf — Lydia didn’t heal, but instead became catatonic; a behavioural state characterised by the inability to move normally. The morgue in the hospital gave us the privacy we needed. Stiles stood a clear distance between him and Scott, indicating that he was still mad at him. Melissa and Parrish are also here, theorising what Theo’s plan mean and what his next move might be.

“I think he hurt your dad as a distraction. He wanted to stop anyone that got in his way and to do that,” I speculate, pushing past my feelings of hurt and anguish to focus on the task ahead.

“We need to find his kid,” Parrish says disapprovingly. His forehead is drenched in sweat from both fear and anger. I know how much Lydia means to him, and although I don’t necessarily like the though the those two together, I can feel his pain.

“Isn’t that a little dangerous? Especially since he almost killed my kid?” Melissa chimes in worriedly.

“Yeah, but he said he didn’t want my dad to die,” Stiles avows.

“And you believe him?” Parrish asks skeptically.

“He told me where to find him, so maybe he also knows how to save him,” Stiles shrugs.

“What do you want to do? Talk to him?” Melissa questions, folding her arms over her chest as a sign of uneasiness.

“If it saves my dad, then yeah.”

“No, I should do it.” I chime in. I’m sure I reek of uneasiness and apprehensionbecause Scott looks over at me concernedly. The corners of his mouth are pulled down in a frown and his inner eyebrows are drawn up in an expression of worry.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he cautions.

“I’ll be fine. If he touches me, you and Stiles will be hiding in the car,” I reply back, gaining some of my self-assuredness back.

“If he even lays a finger on you, I’ll make sure he never sees the light of day again,” Stiles threatens with his jaw clenched.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

I pull up in front of Theo’s house, taking a sharp breath in before exhaling in a loud sigh. Stiles squeezes my hand in his, reassuring me that I can do this. Scott unbuckles his seatbelt and sits in the floor space of the backseats so he couldn’t be seen by Theo. The rain fell hard onto the roof of the car and the afternoon sky was blanketed with grey, miserable clouds; much to how I’m feeling at this very moment.

“Here goes nothing, I guess,” I mumble to myself as I get out of the car.

“[y/n],” Scott calls out quietly before I could shut the car door. “Act mad.” I nod and take a deep breath before putting on my performance. Stomping up to the front door, my hands ball in a fist and I bang them on the door as loudly as I could.

“Theo, open the door damn it!” I scream, banging harder. Tears start to well in my eyes as I’m overcome with the flashback of only mere hours ago. The vision of Theo’s fingers deep in Scott’s chest as he clawed his way to his heart; the blood dripping heavily off his fingers and although I can’t read chemosignals, I knew he just reeked of power and maliciousness. That’s when I just lost it. I cry harder when Theo opens the door, his face dropping when he sees me.

“Why’d you do it? Why’d you have to kill Scott?” I scream, my chest and throat tightening as tears roll down my face, mixing in with the rain that managed to fall onto my face while walking up to the door. My arms thrash against his chest, almost like I was punishing him for what he did. Closing the door quickly, he grabs ahold of my hands, stopping them from hitting his chest anymore.

“[y/n]! [y/n]! Stop!” He yells back, pinning me against the front door. I cry harder, feeling my face flush redder in pain and my throat squeeze. My legs feel weak, but Theo’s strong hold was enough to hold me up.

“Why’d you kill Scott?” I squeak out, looking him dead in the eye with my puffy red ones. He didn’t respond, instead his gaze fell to his feet in a somewhat shame. I scoff, pushing him off me, causing him to stumble back, but only slightly. My heart aches as I really look at him, knowing how stupid I was to ever trust him when I knew from the start that he was not be trusted. I could’ve really loved him if he wasn’t this monster.

“I’ve fallen into your trap, are you happy? You are the most disgusting person I’ve ever met.” My words vulgar with poison.

“[y/n], please I never meant to hurt you,” his voice meek with guilt.

“Bullshit! You knew exactly what you were doing. Your narcissistic nature just wanted to prove my fucking profile wrong. You wanted to prove _me_ wrong. I trusted you. I gave _everything_ to you. I was vulnerable with you. All while you knew exactly what you were doing?” I scream back, throat becoming scratchy from how much damage I’m causing it.

“Please you have to believe me, it wasn’t supposed to be like that,” Theo pleads, stepping forward cautiously. I press myself harder against the door, and he freezes his movements, not daring to step even a millimetre closer.

“Was this apart of your plan? To make me trust you enough to sleep with you and then break me down into nothing?”

“No-“

“You know what? Never-fucking-mind. You had _every_ intent to kill Scott despite knowing how close I am to him. He’s all I have, Theo! And for you to take him away from me like that. I hope to god you suffer for the rest of your life, because that’s exactly what you deserve, you narcissistic piece of shit.” I rage, clenching my fists to control myself.

"[y/n] please,” his voice falters as he pleads and his eyes are glossy with tears.

“No, Theo. I have made so many excuses for you. I _defended_ you, for fucks sake! I want to be an FBI profiler for god’s sake, I should know better than to protect the enemy. But here I am, under your spell. You should really be congratulating yourself.” A mocking laugh escapes my lips while I slowly clap my hands.

“If you’re really so good at profiling and analysing people’s behaviours, then you know that it wasn’t my fault. You know that I was brainwashed by the Dread Doctors,” he croaks out through his throat that’s also closing in on him.

“But you could’ve said no,” I whisper.

“They don’t work like that, [y/n], you know that,” he sniffs as a tear rolls down his cheek. Theo goes to cup my cheeks but stops himself as he knows the last thing I want is for him to sure even the littlest amount of affection. After all, he did just “kill” my cousin.

“You could’ve chosen to do the right thing. But your ego and hunger for power got in the way.” My voice softens as I step closer to him. “You know, you can have all the power in the world, but one thing you can never have is love because they’ll be stupid to ever love you like I did.” And with that, I step aside and walk away. I honestly didn’t think it would hurt this much, but it does. He watches as I get into my car, his cheeks red with tears of mourning. Theo knew it would come to this. He knew he couldn’t have the love of his life forever. To him, I was the sun that peered out in a gloomy, stormy day. I made his day better. I made him feel safe; safe from the Dread Doctors, but also from himself.

“Are you okay?” Stiles asks, placing a hand on my shaking and cold ones, just like he did before.

“Let’s just go home,” I sniff, turning on the ignition.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

The shower feel soothing against my skin; almost like it was washing away today’s pain away. My phone buzzes on the sink and I lean over checking the screen.

_**Bambi** : hey, Scott told us what happened. Hope you’re doing okay x_

_**Bambi** : also Mason and I thought you could use a distraction so if you wanted to join us in searching for the Nemeton, let me know ☺️_

_**Me** : Awh thanks Bambi, that really means a lot. I’m doing okay for now lol._

_**Me** : Also I’d be happy to come along!_

Within less than a minute, Liam replied back.

_**Bambi** : Great! I’ll pick you up in 15!_

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Liam, Mason and I had been walking around the woods for what felt like hours. Although, in real time, it had only been about 20 minutes. Mason, who is consulting the map, stops in his tracks, causing Liam and I to look back in him in curiosity.

“Found something?” I question.

“There should be a clearing, right about here,” the confusion is prevalent in his voice as he looks between the map and the trees and bushes that surrounds us. Groaning in frustration, he drops his arm that was holding the map, down to his side.

“Maybe the clearing doesn’t want to be found, either?”

“It’s a thing that needs—“ I cut myself off when I notice Liam kneeling to the ground. Just by his body language alone, I can tell that he’s overwhelmed with exhaustion and guilt, but most of all, grief.

“I couldn’t save her,” Liam’s soft voice croaks out.

“No one could. [y/n] and I were standing right there. Melissa did everything medically possible,” Mason says sympathetically.

“While I was trying to kill Scott,” Liam mumbles into his hands, which rest upon his face.

“Bambi,” I sigh, crouching down and pulling him into my side. “You can’t take all the blame. I think the fear of losing Hayden caused you to become angry. Mix that in with the supermoon and Theo… Hayden wouldn’t have been able to survive anyway. It was you that killed her, it was the Dread Doctors,” I console, feeling his breathing slow into deep, mediating breaths.

“Or maybe it was just me,” Liam mumbles lethargically.

“Liam, you’re a werewolf. There was a full moon — a supermoon. And you can’t let yourself—“ Mason’s words trail off as the lightbulbs in his head turn on. Standing up, I help Liam up to his feet while we both look at Mason in curiosity.

“What?” Liam asks.

“The Nemeton’s a beacon for supernatural creatures, right?” Mason questions, his eyes darting towards me.

“Yeah. I was going to say before that it’s a thing that needs to be found by a supernatural creature,” I explain.

“But I _am_ a supernatural creature,” Liam scoffs. “And I can’t find anything.”

“But you’ve been looking with your _human_ eyes,” Mason remarks. Taking yet another deep breath, Liam closes his eyes. He opens them again and his irises are glowing gold, and despite it only lasting a few seconds, he see what we’re looking for.

“Do you see it?” I ask, following the direction of his eyes. And I’ll be damned. There it was, the stump standing ever so still in its hiding spot.

“What? What?” Mason perplexes, confused as to where he should be looking.

“Look,” Liam points in the direction of the Nemeton.

“I don’t see any-“ Mason is cut off by Liam gripping the back of his neck tightly to pull him down into the right spot. Mason’s eyes widen and his jaw drops in shock as he sees the Nemeton only a few feet away.

“Intense,” he breathes out.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

By the time we had evaluated all the bodies sprawled out around the tree, the sky become a dark grey colour; the clouds still prevailing, causing a claustrophobic tension between all of us.

“There’s only four,” comments Liam. The only bodies that appears around the supernatural stump are the bodies of Beth, Donovan, and Lucas.

“That means four Chimeras are still missing,” Mason affirms.

“That doesn’t make sense. We saw Hayden die — how is she not here?” I asked, tilting my head in perplexity.

“This must mean that Hayden’s still alive. She _has_ to be.” Liam seems to be conformed by the fact that there’s a possibility that Hayden is alive. His previous self-loathing demeanour changed into a more hopeful and calming manner.

“Okay… Maybe you’re right. Either way, we gotta tell someone about this. We get the cops down here, and they can figure out who’s dead, who’s alive, and who’s…whatever. Sound good?” Mason constructs a plan. Although it doesn’t seem all too bad, it still wasn’t the best.

“No, are you kidding? We are surrounded by four dead bodies and we’re calling them in. How is that supposed to make us look? We don’t exactly have a strong enough alibi if we’re charged with mass murder,” I reason with a sigh, folding my arms over my chest as I peer down at the bodies below us. Before either of us could do, or say anything else, bright red and blue lights shine through the bushes, blinding our eyes.

“You three! Stay right where you are!” A male cop yells out with authority. Liam, Mason and I put our hands up in surrender.

“I told you,” I whisper harshly to them. Hayden appears with two other cops — one of which is Deputy Clark, her sister.

“That’s it. That’s where I found the bodies — four of them,” Hayden smirks at us, her head tilts slightly as she squints her eyes. She’s taunting us; she was never on “our” side. Theo must’ve recruited her into his Pack, along with the others that are missing from the Nemeton. Who knows how long they’ve been working together. As far as we know, they could’ve planned this out this whole time. Deputy Clark shakes her head in disapproval towards me as she takes my wrists behind my back.

“Please, Val. You have to believe me, this is a misunderstanding.” I plea with desperation.

“You know, for someone who’s dad was an FBI agent, I never though you’d be cable of murder,” she shoots back, tugging me by my arm towards the cop car. Mason and Liam are luckily thrown into the same car as me. In all honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen either one of them this scared before.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

We arrive at the station, handcuffs still tightly secured around our wrists. Upon entering the station, Parrish looks up from the files he was working on. His eyebrows furrow and he immediately stands up, following Deputy Clark and the other police officer to the holding cells.

“Clark, Morgan, can I speak to you guys please?” He asks with a displeasing sigh. Both officers shyly past Parrish as they leave the room. He looks back at us with a wink before following Clark and Morgan out.

“He’s gonna get us out, so you can stop worrying now,” I giggle, leaning back against the cold wall with one of my legs drawn up to my chest, while the other hangs off the seat. Liam stops pacing the cell for a moment and sucks in a sharp breath before releasing it into the icy air.

“Yeah I mean the worst the could happen would be for us to get charged with murder, but yeah, everything’s gonna be fine,” Mason stresses.

“But we know Parrish is gonna help us. Besides, he can provide a character witness statement which would say that we’re incapable of murdering four people,” I suppose my causal attitude calms both of the boys down. Liam sits beside me, his hands on his thighs as he leans over. My tired head leans against his shoulder as my arms wrap around one of his. He leans his head on mine in a way that says he’s tired but okay.

Meanwhile, Mason eyes us carefully. He began to have suspicions of his own towards Liam’s crush. He compares Liam’s crush on me to Stiles and Lydia; while Stiles loves Malia, deep down he’s still in love with Lydia. Considering my expertise in body language and behavioural analysis, Mason wonders if I knew. But just like Liam, Mason also knows that I would dismiss it.

Within less than five minutes, Parrish returns with a key card. “You guys are free to go,” he smiles.

“That’s it? No fingerprinting? No questioning?” Mason asks in complete confusion. His eyebrows furrows as he cautiously exits the cell.

“Nope. I’ve sorted everything out, don’t worry,” he says while closing the cell after Liam and I step out. “Besides, what were you guys doing there?”

“We think there’s four bodies are missing from the Nemeton, and Hayden’s one of them,” I inform, watching as Parrish’s face contorts into shock. “I’m sure it’s not that big of a deal, but I’ll tell Scott when he comes home.”

“Are you sure, I mean I could give him a call now if you’d like?”

“No, no, it’s okay. I’ll just tell him later,” I reassure him. Parrish walks us out into the station and Liam’s car seems to have been retrieved from the woods where he parked it. Mason, Liam and I pile into the car and sit in silence, still processing what just happened.

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•

Scott, Malia & Stiles had spent the rest of the evening searching the tunnels for a new Chimera that escaped the hospital earlier. No one has really updated me on what’s going on so far, so I’m assuming everything went okay. No one is home either, making me feel more alone than what I intended to be. Liam offered to stay the night but I knew I’d feel bad for having him sleep on either the floor or the couch, so I just assured him that I was okay while he drove me home.

Slipping into my pjs took a lot longer than anticipated as my body is weighted heavily with guilt. I know it sounds stupid, but his absence is a constant nagging ache in my heart. I yearn for the Theo that was good; that made me feel good and safe. But I knew this was coming. My own profile said so.

Lethargically, I clicking on one of Markiplier’s videos before crawling into the comfort of my bed, instantly feeling my head becoming heavy in exhaustion as my body eases into the bed. Finally after five minutes into the video, I close my eyes and drift off to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know if y'all want me to continue this story or if i should start the next one (based on s6) 🦋


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